The Differences We Share
by Arcana Force XIII 'Thanatos
Summary: An OC story. Perhaps the line between human and digimon is not as set in stone as we once thought. in truth the line is not so easily defined.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: First Connection

"Isn't _Bad Apples _a little dark for what you had in mind Rai?"

"Oh come on, you'll sing the English version. Nobody will understand it then, and it's got a great beat to it. Besides, our designated fans will love it!"

The redhead stared at him in bewilderment. "We have designated fans?"

The blonde sitting behind the drums scoffed. "We have fans period?"

"Lo, you're not helping! And no, we don't have fans yet but we will soon."

"We're a garage band." Lo said with her arms crossed. "I don't even like our music. Do you realize what the odds are of us ever hitting the big time? Its…Jasper, what is it?"

Sitting by the door to the garage was a smaller boy, also with tan skin and black hair. "After very generous rounding, I'd say somewhere in the ballpark of .1%. But I'm your fan!"

Rai scowled as he said, "You're family Jasper. You don't count."

"Aw…"

"Maybe we should pick something a little more light-hearted." The redhead suggested. "Something catchy and likable. Nobody will take us seriously if we take ourselves too seriously."

"I know!" Rai cried. "But nobody will take us seriously if we don't take ourselves seriously enough!"

Lo smirked. "You need to stop taking this so seriously."

"That's why I don't want people to know." Rai sighed. "Nobody will take us seriously if they know I take this too seriously! But at the same time, we have to take ourselves seriously enough to perform well, but not so seriously that people make fun of us!"

"Yeah…we're officially going around in circles now. Maybe we should just take a break for today and pick it up tomorrow?"

"I am all over that plan!" Lo cried. "Screw whoever came up with the drum seat. Sitting in this thing hurts like a bitch!"

"Lo! Not in front of Jasper!"

"Oh calm down." Lo chuckled. "I'm sure with Rai around he hears plenty of bad words." She smiled at Rai cheekily, who responded with a dark glare. "What? You gonna deny it?"

"…No."

The redhead dipped into her pocket, feeling the telltale vibrations of her cell phone. "Hello?" she asked, answering it. "Yeah sure." She said before reaching for the notebook on the little table beside her. She flipped to the back and scribbled a few things down, nodding slowly as she did. "Yep, got it. I'll see you later. Bye." She hung up and put her phone away, along with the torn out list. "Don't let me forget. I have to pick some stuff up on the way home."

"Why do you always say that Celena?" Lo wondered. "When have you ever forgotten anything? You carry around a little planner with you all the time at school, and it has that cute little spot on your desk with that fuzzy pink pen right beside it."

"I like being organized!" she answered, trying to keep the blush from coming over her face. Naturally she failed, but it was a valiant effort. She followed the other three as they moved out of the garage and into the main room of Rai's house. Jasper ran over and plopped down on the sofa, switching the TV on with the remote while Rai himself went to grab a couple cans of soda.

"Break in was recently reported. The police promptly responded and discovered upon examining the apartment building the body of its only tenant, Amano Masato. A call was made to the police station at approximately nine o'clock this morning reporting the break in. The caller has requested their name be withheld. Upon entering, the police discovered the body which has been torn into viciously by the attacker. This is the third such killing in the past three weeks but the police have refused to comment on whether or not this victim is related to the previous ones."

"Isn't that place nearby?" Lo asked curiously, her eyes glued to the news report.

"Oh. Oh God, that's right by my house." Celena said. She fought down the little tendrils of paranoia that clutched at her heart.

"Creepy. Y'know, you came over pretty early. You could have been walking right past the house when,"

"No." Celena said her voice stern and commanding. Lo backed down with a frown as Celena continued. "I came by around ten. I do remember seeing some police cars nearby though. I had no idea it was… like that."

"Are we gonna be okay?" Jasper asked as he looked up at the two girls. "We're not in any danger right? I mean, even at one person a week that's still only four a month and there are so many people that live in this city so the chances of any one of us or anybody related to us getting hurt is really, really high so obviously I don't need to worry because there's next to no chance of it happening so,"

"Breathe Jasper!" Lo cried out. "Calm down and take a deep breath. I was just kidding okay? Nobody is going to get you. I mean, it wasn't even three break ins. The news reporter said three because the first apartment broken into was owned by a couple. Relax okay/ that's the kind of stuff you hear about on the news. Nothing more."

"She's right Jasper." Rai said with a reassuring smile on his face. He handed his brother a soda and put a hand on his head. Jasper smiled back and nodded, opening the can. Rai tossed the other two to Celena and Lo. The blonde caught hers easily, but Celena fumbled and it hit the hardwood floor. "Nice." Rai grunted. "Don't you play baseball?"

"Sh-shut up! I play soccer, it's totally different. You're lucky I didn't kick it back into your face."

"Uh-huh."

Celena made a face before setting her can down on the coffee table. She sat down on the sofa beside Jasper, who was currently flipping through the channels. She checked the time on her cell phone and pocketed it again. "So Lo, you got the research done for our project right?"

"Huh?" Lo asked with her eyes wide, looking up suddenly. "Oh, uh, yeah. Of course I did."

"Lo."

"I did, I sear!" Lo cried. "It's at home, and I'll give it to you tomorrow and then we can back the cake to bring in tomorrow. I promise."

"What about cake?" Rai wondered.

"It's for the Culinary Club tomorrow." Celena explained. "Every member is paired into a group of two and over the week we research foreign foods and their history. Then we make a bunch of it, take it in for everyone to try, and then go over at the club how to make it. We can't actually afford enough equipment so that everyone can make their own but it usually works out pretty well. I already got the stuff to make it at home. There's 20 kids in the club, so if we split the cake in eight pieces we'll need to make three."

"Aw, work!"

"Eight times three equals 24 minus twenty will equal four extra pieces."

"Score! I can't wait until tomorrow!"

"Can you save me a piece?" Jasper asked with a sheepish little smile on his face.

"Of course!" Celena said with a nod. "Now, I need to go so I can pick up a couple of things for dinner tonight." Celena stood up off of the sofa and stretched. "Lo. You better get that stuff ready."

"I know, I know!"

Celena smiled and walked back toward the front door. She slipped her red boots on before calling one last good bye back into the house before walking out into the cool autumn air. She walked down the patio and out the gate surrounding the house, moving down into the busy streets. She slid into the crowd, becoming just another face in the mass of people. Even with her dark red hair acting as a beacon she was still hard to point out. She liked that about the city. If you wanted to just sort of vanish for a while then it was easy. You could just be another person in the crowd. One felt oddly close to the people around them, despite not actually knowing any of them.

She looked up, the bright sunlight hitting the large buildings to cast large black shadows over the streets. She walked along the street, happy in the action's own simplicity. She turned through the twisting city streets. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the list, nodding to herself as she knew she had enough money for it.

Her smile diminished as her eyes fell on the tall apartment complex nearby. She paled a little, thinking of what had happened in one of the little rooms. The horror they must have felt as their home was broken into. The home was like a sanctuary, no matter what form it took. To have someone invade it and attack you while inside, feeling so safe. It must have been awful. Celena shuddered as she opened the door to the small store, ducking inside quickly.

"Cold?"

Celena look up, a little blush on her face. "Oh, uh yeah a little." She chuckled surprised that someone had caught her so deep in thought. The boy smiled back from beneath his blue scarf, his bright yellow eyes twinkling in amusement. He wore a tight, dark blue jacket and black jeans. His hands were covered in blue gloves, and his boots were a very dark black. He chuckled a little bit before turning back to the clerk. He handed a few bills over and took the large brown bag form the counter. Celena opened the door for him, to which he smiled happily in return.

"Thank you." He said sweetly. Celena nodded back with a smile and closed the door behind him. She moved through the small aisles, collecting the items for dinner and coming back to the front desk. She smiled at the clerk as he rang up the items. He paused on a jar of cause, angrily swiping it again and again.

"Something wrong?" Celena asked.

"It's this stupid scanner!" the man grumbled as he tried again, finally getting the beep he needed. "It's been screwing up for a couple of days now. I told my boss we need a new one, but of course it works fine whenever he comes by." He continued with the items until he got stuck on a small jar of spices. "That boy that was just here was asking about it actually. Apparently we're not the only ones that have had the problem."

"Weird." Celena said curiously.

"Annoying." The man corrected, giving up and typing the price in directly. He did it a couple of times, explaining "And the keyboard does it too. I'll put the price in, but it'll ring up something totally different. Like one bar of chocolate being a million yen!"

"Wow. That must be good chocolate." Celena chuckled. "Sorry to hear it's been such a problem though."

"Yeah. And guess who gets in trouble if I over or undercharge the customers." The man griped. "There. I think that's all right." He took Celena's bill and popped open the register. He traded the money and handed back her change before pulling a large brown bag out and slipping the groceries inside. "Have a nice day." He grunted.

"You too." Celena said, offering a hopeful smile. She grabbed her bag and left out the door. She walked down the streets, quickly making her way home. She looked up, and as she did she froze. The streetlights, which had just switched on as the sun had fallen enough by then, were flickering rapidly. Now, while one or two flickering in a large city wouldn't be much, all of the lights were flickering now on and off. Celena watched for a moment as they flickered. She shook her head and kept moving, though the time really had caught up to her.

She turned her head as she passed by the park, an idea coming to her. She turned and walked down the sidewalk leading into the park. It had gotten a bit later than she realized, perhaps she had spent more time getting the groceries than intended, and already it was getting dark. The streetlights here were also flickering rapidly, but in such a way that there was always at least two illuminating the path ahead.

She looked over as she heard some rustling in the bush, no doubt a little animal scurrying to its den for the night. But in the moment, the moment the thought left her head, a white blur went slipping out from underneath the bushes and right underneath the park bench ahead of her. Celena frowned, wondering why the little cat was so afraid. She looked back at the bush he had shot out from, finding it to be rustling fiercely.

Rising up from the bush, scales as black as night and eyes as bright as gold, was a monster. It tore through the bush, crawling out from the wreckage. Hunched over with claws large and gleaming in the flickering lights, it slid out of the blackness. Its acute ears, shaped like little bat wings, flickered in the night. His long green tongue flickered out and slid back in like a snake's. He eyes Celena for a moment curiously before turning to the rest of the park. His tongue continued to flicker in and out.

Celena stood frozen in terror. Her legs were locked in place, her arms tightly clutching the bag of groceries tightly against her chest. The creature stalked across the park and stopped on the sidewalk. His bright eyes continued to scan the park while he completely ignored Celena despite being only ten feet away. Celena could now see the brilliant red markings that littered his arms and back. The air around him shimmered as his eyes locked onto the bench. He opened his mouth and let out a ferocious roar. "Pyro Grenade!"

Celena leapt back, the bag falling from her arms as a large black sphere shot out of its mouth. She cried out in horror as the ball struck the bench, exploding in a massive cloud of smoky black flames. The white creature, which Celena now saw to be no ordinary cat, flew out from under the bench. The black lizard flung himself at the white creature, an odd seal with a red mohawk from what Celena could see, and pinned him to the ground.

"Got you thief!" the lizard roared, crushing the white thing down further.

"Please let me go!" he cried, tears streaming down his eyes. "Please, please!" He flailed his black claws around uselessly as he tried in vain to force the reptile off of him. "I'll give it back, I promise! Just don't hurt me! Ack! Hurt me anymore I mean!" He squeaked as the black monster lifted him up by his right claw, light green meeting dark amber.

"You ask for mercy?" he growled. "The only mercy I'll grant you is a swift death! I-Ungah!" The black lizard roared as Celena tackled him to the ground, the white thing flipping off into the night sky.

"Leave him alone!" she cried, running on pure instinct now. She had no idea what she was doing or why she was doing it. All she knew was that he was going to hurt the cute little guy and she couldn't let that happen. She hit the ground with a grunt, feeling the lizard's warm body under her. She leapt up off the ground and turned to the white thing. "Run!" she cried.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he cried, tears streaming down his face.

"Just run!" she snapped.

"Don't you dare you damn seal!" the lizard roared, letting out another black burst. The seal screeched, flipping around and dodging it. He stuck his tongue out, picking up his black necklace and waving it at the reptile. "Ha-ha! I've got the prize!" On the end of the black chain as a thick white crystal which twinkled as he dangled it.

"Not for long!" the black lizard roared as he flung himself at the seal once more at the seal. The seal flipped around on the ground, rolling away from the strike. "I'm faster, stronger, and smarter than you thief! Give it up now and I'll make your death swift!"

"And painless?"

"Bwahahahahahaha!"

"Screw you!" the seal roared. "You wanna get this crystal? Well too bad! My boss will be here any minute to rescue me and kick your ass! I've just gotta survive that long so bring it!"

"I'm going to enjoy this far more than I should." Said the lizard with a big, fang filled grin. He opened his mouth wide and launched another burst of black fire. The seal cried out as he leaped into the air, the grenade exploding under him and sending him flipping through the air. He landed with a pained squeak on the sidewalk. He forced himself up with a pained cough.

"Lay down and die." The lizard growled. "Give me the stone back or else I'll eat you."

"Never!" the seal sobbed as he tried to crawl away.

"Leave him alone!" Celena cried. She jumped between the seal and lizard, her arms spread out wide. "He's just a little guy! Where do you get off picking on him anyway?"

The lizard's mouth dropped open, clearly stunned. "Are you joking, girl? He stole that crystal from my boss, Boss! I'm just trying to get it back and give the thief his due reward! Now move. I don't want anyone innocent getting in the way. Even if you did knock me down back there."

"I'm not going to let you kill him!" Celena insisted. Her heart was beating rapidly in her chest. She still had no idea what she was doing but she just couldn't let this monster hurt the poor little seal thing. Even if she was putting herself at risk, she had to at least try to talk him down. If that didn't work then…well she'd think of something else.

"I'm not really going to kill him." The lizard mumbled sheepishly. "They're just threats. I was trying to get him to come quietly! Then you got in the way and…well hell I can't hurt you. You're just a human. Just move already! Uhm…please?" He faltered when Celena's piercing glare struck him. "Aw hell, I never was good with girls. Listen, I…fuck, get down!" he roared as he charged at her. Celena gasped as the lizard grabbed her and leapt away, narrowly dodging the explosion where she was a moment ago. He landed and let her down, her head spinning from the sudden jump.

"I don't…wait what?" The seal had grown and was now covered in thick, shaggy white fur. A large horn extended from its forehead, while long tusks edged downward. His claws had grown massive and the claws were as bright a red as the lizard's markings. His blue eyes were cold and filled with anger.

"Well then!" a taunting chuckle filled the air. The necklace floated off of the ground where it had snapped off after the seal's sudden growth. "Seems we'll have to do things the ugly way then. I did really want to keep Gomamon around but this is fine too." A swirling black vortex opened in the air, a thin arm draped in a cloak the color of dried blood reached out and caught the necklace. He withdrew into the portal, another dark little chuckle filling the air. "Have fun with Ikkakumon then."

"Oh my God…" Celena gasped as he eyes widened in horror. "You're the good guy here!"

"…you say that like it is surprising."

"Well I mean, with all the death threats and stuff it wasn't exactly obvious."

"Good doesn't mean nice you know! And besides, I already explained that…"

Ikkakumon roared, Celena shuddering in fright. "On second thought, can we discuss this later? I'm sorry but please take him out or something!"

"Are you kidding!" the lizard roared. "He's an Adult level now! Even if I was beating him around like a ragdoll before, and I was, there's no way I can now!" He glared at Ikkakumon as his horn flew off of his head. He dove to the side as the horn split open to reveal a green missile. It crashed where the lizard had been standing and exploded on contact.

"Crap!" Celena cried. "We've got to do something! We can't let this thing get into the city!"

"I'm trying, I'm trying!" the lizard roared before firing a black burst. It exploded against Ikkakumon who turned to him with a dark glare. He roared and launched his newly regrown horn, making the lizard cry out and run out of the way. Celena watched the battle slowly, the gears in her head starting to turn. The lizard continued fighting, throwing himself at Ikkakumon only to be forced away as he blasted his constantly re-growing horn. The lizard roared as it struck him and sent him flying through the air.

He landed on his front claws and flipped through the air. He shot out two powerful bursts of black flames, but each one exploded against Ikkakumon meaninglessly. The lizard roared and charged at him again, but narrowly dodged the retaliatory horn missile. He landed to the side on all fours and took a deep breath. From his mouth he sent out a thick jet of black flames. Ikkakumon growled, swiping at the annoying flames as he covered his face with a claw.

"That's it!" Celena cried. "Lizard Guy, I've got it!"

"BlackGuilmon! My name is BlackGuilmon!"

"A boss named Boss, a black lizard thing named Blackguilmon. Your side isn't much for original naming is it?"

"Shut. Up." He leapt aside and dodged the missile, growling at Ikkakumon.

"Charge!" Celena roared.

"What?"

"Charge!" she insisted.

BlackGuilmon let out an annoyed sigh but agreed all the same. No reason not to really. He turned to the beast and rushed towards him. Ikkakumon roared and fired another torpedo but he leapt aside and kept charging. As he ran he watched the beast's horn slowly grow back and smiled. "I get it!" he cried as his claws burst into black flames.

"Aim for the face!" Celena ordered.

Black Guilmon grinned and he flew up, striking the beast in the face. Ikkakumon roared as the lizard pummeled him, beating his face in with repeated flaming strikes. He landed on the beast's chest and viciously tore into his fur. Ikkakumon desperately tried swiping at him with his claws but he just couldn't get at him at the right angle. BlackGuilmon opened his mouth wide and roared "Pyro Grenade bitch!" The black ball shot out and crashed into the beast's face, exploding viciously and sending Blackguilmon flying off of him. He landed on all fours with a wild smile.

"Hell yeah!" he cried.

"Thank goodness." Celena sighed.

"That was great! How'd you know?" BlackGuilmon wondered as he walked towards Celena.

Celena blushed a little and said, "Well it wasn't much. I just noticed that his horn took a while to grow back, so that was the chance to get close. And his face was the easiest target not covered in that thick fur, and really who likes getting hit in the face? He was so big I figured he wouldn't be able to move easily so him dodging wouldn't be an issue, nor would him throwing you off with those weird arms of his."

"Nice job girl. Heh, I get a little blind in battle. I'm told I get in over my head a lot."

"Really?" Celena said without even bothering to hide the sarcasm dripping from her voice. BlackGuilmon laughed nervously in return while also blushing a little. "What do we do with him?" Celena wondered, nodding over toward the prone Ikkakumon. The great white beast moaned as it slowly crawled up onto all fours. "Oh crap!" she cried.

"Damn. I figured that wouldn't be enough." BlackGuilmon growled as he glared at the beast.

"Run!" a light voice cried out form the bushes. Blackguilmon growled, looking around anxiously. "Don't worry, we're friends! Run and we'll take care of this!" Ikkakumon roared as he was knocked down by a large purple beast. BlackGuilmon's eyes widened in awe as the two beasts viciously tore at one another, fighting bitterly.

"We should go." Celena agreed. She wasn't bothering to hide her fear anymore either. "We'll go to my house. This guy looks like he knows what he's doing."

"Are you sure?" BlackGuilmon asked.

"Positive, let's go!" Celena insisted. She turned and ran with BlackGuilmon close behind. The ducked out of the park and headed for the main city. They ducked into a back alley, keeping BlackGuilmon hidden from view. He stayed close to Celena as she led him through the alleyways of the city, moving ever closer to her home. When they arrived they slipped in through the backdoor and Celena led the lizard to her room.

He slipped inside and leapt onto the bed immediately, curling up with a happy sigh. "Ah, so comfy!" he declared in a pleased voice. Celena sat down beside him and lay back. She let out an exhausted sigh. With everything finally starting to calm down the adrenaline was leaving her system and she felt beyond exhausted. She looked over at the black lizard and sighed. "What are we going to do with you?" she mused.

"I only need a place to bunk for the night." He answered with a small yawn. "I'll go back home tomorrow, but for now I'm too exhausted."

"How'd you get here?" Celena wondered. She forced herself to sit up before she fell asleep. "What are you anyway?"

"BlackGuilmon, Virus type, Child level, Reptile type, Unknown family."

"You're an orphan?" Celena asked sadly.

"Uh, no. Family is another classification. I am an orphan though, but I'm quite happy with my lot in life thank you. As for what I am, I'm a digimon. Digital Monster. I am a creature born from a world that exists outside of this one, based on the electronic signals and energies produced from electronic equipment primarily computers."

"Like a video game character?"

He let out a small sigh and nodded. "Yes, if you want to look at it like that then I'm a lot like a video game character. I have to say, you're taking this rather well. I was warned that most humans would freak out over me or try denying me or what have you."

"Hard to deny what I've seen with my own eyes. And we'll know if I'm crazy tomorrow when I show you to some friends of mine before you go. Honestly I figure it's safer to just role with it than fight any of this." She forced herself up from her bed and stretched. "Now, you stay here. I'll go downstairs and have dinner, and I'll be sure to save some extra for you. We'll talk some more after that, but you must not let anyone see you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I was already given the whole speech by Boss. I'll hang out in here and go on your computer, and if anyone other than you opens the door then I'll dive under the bed or something. I've got a great sense of smell so it'll be fine. Go, relax, eat dinner. I'll wait for you here."

"Thanks." Celena said with a smile and a nod. She reached over and hugged him close, the lizard pausing as she did. "And thank you for all of your help tonight. Sorry I got in the way at first."

"I-It's nothing." He murmured sheepishly. Celena let him go and left her room, closing the door behind her. He watched her go and sighed, lying back on the bed. Tomorrow he'd be safe and sound in his own bed back in the digital world. All of this would be behind him. The Boss would chew him out for screwing up, but he'd think of something. That's why he's the Boss and why he was in charge. Tomorrow he'd go back home and tell him all about what happened. A small frown came over his face as he thought that, closing his eyes thoughtfully.

What if he didn't want to go back?


	2. Chapter 2

Well the first chapter was moderately successful. I'm quite happy with how this is going. Here is chapter two, there's quite a surprise at the end.

Chapter 2: Bond by Breaking

BlackGuilmon let out a small yawn and stretched out. He blinked his eyes a couple of times and turned his neck around. The night before, Celena had made him a nice little bed on the floor of her large closet. He had insisted she do so, as nobody finding him was far more important than personal comfort. That and the only other place to sleep would be on Celena's bed with her and the thought of that turn BlackGuilmon's dark face scarlet red. So on his insistence, Celena had prepared a futon for him on the floor of her closet. It was quite a large closet so he had plenty of room and after messing around a bit with the pillows and blankets he was able to make a very nice little nest for himself.

He picked the sheets up off the floor slightly and saw bright sunlight stream in through the crack under the door. He gently licked at the air and smelled only Celena in her room. He gently tapped at the door to the closet and a moment later Celena slid it open. She smiled down at him as she stepped aside, and he jumped right out and landed beside her. He walked a bit away and stretched again more fully. He wagged his tail a few times and stretched out his wing-like ears. He could hear the cars and people outside the home as they went about their morning. The city certainly sounded like a busy place.

"Good morning." he greeted politely.

"Good morning." Celena answered in turn. "How'd you sleep? I hope the bed was okay."

"It wasn't exactly my bed back home but it wasn't bad either." He answered with a nod. "I, hey how did you get dressed if I was in your closet?"

"I opened the door and pulled the stuff out." Celena said slowly, wondering why it wasn't obvious. She stifled a laugh when she saw Blackguilmon's face grow red. "You were so cute when you were asleep." She teased. "Like a big scaly puppy."

"Not that!" BlackGuilmon lamented. "I could have easily seen you if I had woken up before!" He buried his hands in his claws as he tried in vain to hide his blush.

Celena gave a light chuckle before saying "You're quite the gentleman when you're not fighting. You seemed like a really rough person last night but I don't think that's the case anymore."

Blackguilmon scowled and looked away. "Yeah well, don't go saying that to other digimon. I do have a reputation to uphold after all."

"Reputation?"

BlackGuilmon smirked and puffed his chest out a little bit. "I'm the Boss' number one rookie hunter. I only started working for him a couple weeks ago but I'm already his top rookie. No digimon can escape from me! With my impeccable sense of smell, keen eyesight, and sharp hearing it's impossible to evade me for long."

"Actually catching who you're hunting is another story though." Celena laughed again as the black lizard glared at her. "Joking aside though, I think we should go back to the park today and see what happened. I'm worried about what happened after we ran. I wasn't thinking straight at the time. We should have stuck around and helped."

"No." BlackGuilmon cut her off with a thrash of his tail for emphasis. "That…whatever it was that fought off Ikkakumon knew what it was doing. There's no doubt in my mind that it and its partner lived, and ikkakumon lost." The reptile looked down solemnly after saying that and his ears drooped.

Celena asked, "Thinking about that necklace huh?"

BlackGuilmon nodded in return. "I've no idea what it even is or what it does. My Boss simply said it was important that I get it back from Gomamon. Gomamon moved into our base a couple weeks ago and we were on the same training team. Never liked him much. As cowardly then as he was last night. I don't know if he planned it form the start or if he was contacted later but in the end he stole that crystal from our boss and escaped into this world. I tracked him down, but then…" He drifted off and let out a small sigh.

"Is there anyway you can get it back?" Celena wondered.

"No." BlackGuilmon said with a shake of his head. "Nobody, not even Boss, knows who exactly contacted Gomamon or told him to steal the necklace. I've no idea what the crystal on it even is, what it does, or who took it. I wasn't even enough to take care of the one who stole it! Guess I can't call myself the number one rookie hunter now, huh?"

Celena stood up and gently pet Blackguilmon's head. He looked up at her as she said, "Oh come on, cheer up! We'll go to the park later and try searching for clues. That part of the park usually isn't too busy. It's off the beaten path and more of an odd little shortcut than anything else. It's surrounded by trees and bushes on most sides and pretty secluded. It's just a little concrete path that cuts across a small corner of the park so it should be fine if you search."

"Search for what?"

"I don't know." Celena admitted with a shrug. "But you're the number one rookie hunter. Surely you can find something of use."

BlackGuilmon fell silent for a moment, his eyes closed in concentration. He cocked his head to the side before shrugging. "Well it couldn't hurt to try. I'm getting picked up at the park later today anyway. Originally I was meant to spend the night there and get picked up this afternoon in case the hunt took a while but obviously it didn't."

"Spend the night in the park?" Celena asked skeptically.

Blackguilmon grinned as he said, "Most of the digital world is some form of natural environment. A city like this is much rarer than a forest or dessert so I'm used to it. It kinda took me a while to get used to living in Boss' big house after he recruited me actually. That was a few years ago though."

"How old are you anyway?" Celena asked. This was her first time dealing with a digimon, so obviously she had nothing to go off of.

"Age is a different thing for us digimon." He explained. "See, we have these evolutionary levels. Baby, In-Training, Child, Adult, Perfect, Ultimate. Each step is a different step in our lives, and that instead is used to measure how old we are. So while by your standard I'm only five years old, by my standard I'm more around your age."

"Fascinating!" Celena said honestly. "I'd love to learn more about digimon like you. Do you all look like you or Gomamon, or are there more?"

"Tons more!" BlackGuilmon laughed. "My evolutionary line is just a couple drops in the big bucket that is the digital world. We come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and attitudes. Dragons, beasts, plants, insectoids, demons, angel, machines, sea serpents, fish, anything you could think of and several things you can't."

"How do you breathe fire?" Celena wondered as she took a notepad out of her desk and began copying notes. Blackguilmon stared at her for a moment before sitting down on the bed and continuing.

"Our world is based on data and electrical energy. That's why Gomamon was screwing with the lights earlier. We digimon can mess around with electronic devices if we try really hard or if we're being really emotional. I can absorb that excess energy that machines give off and reshape as fuel in my body the same way digimon are turned into genuine living organisms once we transfer into this world. Not to say we weren't living before, but instead of data we become physical. Then I ignite the fuel in my body and breathe it out as a flame."

"Do you know anything about the process?" Celena asked as she continued with her notes. "How does the data and energy get converted? What's the make-up of the fuel exactly? How does your body ignite the fuel?"

"I, well, I uh, don't know." BlackGuilmon admitted as he shyly scratched at his face. "I mean, I know it happens but…Well you know a human eats food and gets energy from it but do you know the exact chemical and molecular process it goes through?"

"Not yet." Celena admitted. "I'm only on photosynthesis so far. I'm taking duel-enrollment classes at my school so the class I'm taking in high school counts towards college credits. That means the class is a bit more in-depth than normal so I am actually learning precisely how stuff like that works in my biology class."

"Oh. Oh wow, so you do actually know. Uhm, sorry but I can't answer everything. I do know one thing though."

"What's that?"

"I'm hungry. Any chance I can get some food?"

Celena smiled and stood up. "Sure. I'll go make us breakfast, but in return you have to promise to answer any questions I have to the best of your abilities. Oh, and don't get too close to my laptop. If Gomamon could do that to those lights then I shudder to think what you could do to my computer."

"Fair enough." BlackGuilmon said with a nod. "What about your family though?"

Celena led BlackGuilmon out of her room and downstairs. "They're both out shopping and my brother is at his friend's house. They both only left about thirty minutes ago so we should have the house to ourselves for as long as we need it." She explained as they went. She moved into the kitchen and looked in the refrigerator. "How many eggs should I make you?" she wondered. She looked up at BlackGuilmon curiously. He was shorter than her but not by much and he had a lot of muscle on him under his scales.

"Well I usually eat,"

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"Do you shed your scales?"

BlackGuilmon's face light up like a stoplight and he covered his face in his claws. "Y-Y-Y-Yes!" he stammered shyly. "We dragon types and reptile types shed but it's a very private time for us! When it's time to shed we soak ourselves in warm water for about a day and then go about removing the outer layer. Now please don't ask about that again. Something like that is very private!"

Celena frowned and bowed a little to the lizard. "Sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable I just saw the scales and the question popped into my head. Sorry. I won't ask something like that again."

"It's fine just…please don't."

"Right. So how many eggs did you say?"

"Oh right. About six is good for me."

Celena opened the carton and nodded. "I figured about that." She said with a nod. "My family goes through a lot of eggs so we've still got a carton or two in there besides this. My parents are going to the store, but on the off chance they ask I'll say a friend came over. I mean that is true right?"

BlackGuilmon smiled and nodded in agreement. Celena set about cooking and emptied the remaining eggs into the pan as she continued asking questions. She alternated between scrambling and stirring the eggs, and recording the answered down in her notepad. BlackGuilmon happily answered all of her questions and they managed to avoid another uncomfortable moment. Celena finished the eggs and slid them onto two plates. "Want anything with it?" she asked.

"I kind of like barbecue sauce." He answered. "I like spicy foods."

"Sure. I've heard weirder." Celena set the plates down and pulled the bottle of dark red sauce out of the refrigerator and set it beside BlackGuilmon. "So earlier you mentioned that other digimon's partner. Who or what would that be?"

BlackGuilmon happily covered his eggs in the spicy sauce before taking a bite and smiling. "Delicious!" he said. "A partner, other times called a tamer, is a human ally that sides with the digimon. Humans, for unknown reasons, are able to empower digimon that they've grown close to. It's unknown why humans have this power, but a digimon partnered with a human has the power to temporarily evolve. By evolving, they have access to an older from that they would have in the future. Evolution for us is more like metamorphosis. It's a sudden change that alters, sometimes in very big ways, what we look like and how powerful we are. It happens once we grow strong enough in our current form. So once I as a Child grow strong enough, I can evolve into my Adult form. Humans are able to allow a digimon they are partnered with to temporarily become this evolved form and gain all the power that implies."

Celena frowned for a moment before asking, "But where do you get the new mass to change forms?"

"Well again, our bodies work differently than yours do. So part of it is simply rewriting our genetic code to what will eventually become our evolved form. The data of a digimon isn't static like a human's DNA. However, this is much harder in this world so we absorb and convert more of that excess digital energy in the atmosphere that I mentioned earlier. There's way more to it obviously, but again I only know so much."

"Well thank you for telling me that much." Celena said as she finished her notes. She closed the little pad and put it in her jacket pocket. "I'll be right back, and then we can go to the park." She said before excusing herself from the table and leaving the kitchen for a moment. She returned a couple minutes later with a smile on her face. "Right then, so how are we going to get you to the park anyway? We can't let anyone else see you."

"I have no idea." BlackGuilmon admitted. "The boss usually gives use ways to stay hidden, but this assignment was never meant to be so involved so I haven't got any of that. Getting a disguise together would be too hard and too unlikely to work."

"We could stick to the alleys again, but eventually we'd have to cross at least one street."

"Eh, its fine. I can get there sneakily if you just show me where it is first."

"You sure?"

The lizard nodded as he got up from the table. "Yeah, it's cool. Just get me back to that one alley we ran into before and I can find an alternate route from there. Or at the very least get over there in a way that completely inconspicuous."

"No offense but I doubt anything you do would be counted as inconspicuous." Celena laughed when the lizard glared at her. She threw her boots on and grabbed her key before moving back to the backdoor. The two slipped out and Celena locked it behind her. They then began to make their way back through the maze of alleys that they used before to get back to the park. BlackGuilmon was silent for most of it, and seemed to be very focused. Eventually they reached the street across the park and stayed on the far end of the alley. "Got it." The reptile said with a nod before looking around for a moment. He dashed off in one direction, leaving Celena to continue on her own way.

She moved out into the throng of people and paused when she saw a flash of pink and blue. She looked around for a moment and wondered where it had come from, but saw nothing. No person or advertisement had those same colors. She slowly shook her head and continued on towards the park. 'I'm going crazy.' She thought. 'Or at least I'll know if I am or not in a minute.'

Celena entered the park and went down the unassuming trail. She stopped along the sidewalk where the confrontation had been the night before and thankfully there was nobody else to see her. "Just as planned." She said with a nod.

"Yeah, it is pretty dead." BlackGuilmon said as he emerged from the bushes. He stared at Celena curiously before grinning. "Did I scare ya?"

"N-No!" Celena cried, her heart still pounding a bit. "Asshole. How'd you get here anyway?"

"I circled around to this part of the park, waited until nobody was looking, and leapt onto a passing truck and then leapt off and over into the bushes. I'm sure some people saw me, but nobody will ever believe them and I'm pretty sure most of them don't believe it."

"You jumped onto a truck!" Celena cried in shock. He had been fast the night before but certainly not that fast!

"Well it was stopped at a red light." He answered with a shrug.

"Oh. So uh, we should probably look around for…something. What are we looking for?"

"An egg." Answered BlackGuilmon. "When a digimon dies they are converted into an egg. It might not necessarily be here if the guys form last night took it, but it might be." With that, he brought his face up and began to gently flutter his tongue in and out. Celena looked away and moved over towards some of the bushes and began to look through them. Hopefully it had rolled into there or something.

BlackGuilmon paused and gasped. "Crap, a human!" he cried before turning to the bushes. He yelped when Celena grabbed his tail and pulled him back. BlackGuilmon went tumbling back and crashed onto the sidewalk. "What are you doing!" he hissed angrily, his amber eyes flashing.

"I called them to help." Celena explained. "It's fine, we can trust her. She already knows about digimon."

"What? How!"

"Because one used to babysit me." Lo answered as she walked towards the two. "You weren't kidding! There really is a digimon!"

"Nice to know I'm not crazy." Celena said with a sigh. "Unless we both are. I didn't describe him on the phone, so tell me what you see."

"What really?" Lo let out a sigh and rolled her eyes when Celena gave her an indignant look. "Yeah, sure, fine. I see a pudgy black lizard with a hunchback and a creepy green tongue sliding in and out. He's got red markings, and his ears look like little bat wings."

"…I am _not _pudgy."

"I'm surprised you didn't roll when Celena pulled you to the ground."

"I am not pudgy!" BlackGuilmon insisted. "And I have very nice posture for a digimon of my species! Tell her Celena!"

"I have nothing to base those theories off of so I'll just stay quite."

BlackGuilmon let out an irritated growl and crossed his arms. "Well fine, whatever. Is she here to help?"

"Damn straight." Lo said with a grin. "I'll help you fix your fuck up, no need to worry."

"I don't like your friend Celena." BlackGuilmon grunted. "She's bitchy and smells funny."

"I do _not _smell funny! It's this new shampoo I'm using. It smells like peaches."

"Smells like crap."

"Okay, enough!" Celena cried as she stepped between the two. Lo looked about ready to jump BlackGuilmon and Celena did not put it past her at all. It would not be the first or last time she had gotten into a fight. "Let's just look for this egg so BlackGuilmon can go back home, okay?"

"Okay." Lo said with a shrug.

"R-Right." BlackGuilmon murmured before resuming his sniffing. His eyes widened, and his pupils dilated. He hunched down and growled into the bushes and trees, his tail lashing. He quickly moved in front of Celena, never once taking his eyes off of the forest. "I can smell you.' He growled, his voice low and rumbling. "Come out!"

"Down boy, no need to get your sheddings in a bunch."

Another digimon slid out of the forest, about the same height as BlackGuilmon. He was more streamlined and fox-like with perked ears and small bat-like wings. His body was dark purple, but his muzzle, claws, and chest were soft white. There was a bright red gem on his forehead, right between his two red eyes. A belt was around his chest, holding a sheathed sword across his back between his wings. He grinned at BlackGuilmon who stared back at him in confusion.

"You are…Dorumon? Do I know you? You smell familiar. You smell sweet."

Dorumon grimaced for a moment before turning to the forest. "Otoutobun! I told you bringing that stuff was a bad idea!"

It was Celena's turn to gasp as a boy with white hair stepped out of the forest. "You!' she cried. The boy she had met the day before at the convenience store stepped out. He held a large brown bag in one arm and in his left hand was a crepe filled with cream and strawberries. He gave a shy smile to Celena but looked away when she glared back. "What are you doing here?" she snapped. "Have you been stalking me!"

"W-What!" the boy cried in horror. "N-No! I'd never! Us meeting yesterday was coincidence, I promise! I was just as surprised to see you here last night as…well I guess you didn't actually see me last night judging by you being so surprised now but I was really surprised and,"

"She gets it Otouto." Dorumon interrupted with a blank look.

"Oh. R-Right."

"Hey!" Lo cried suddenly. Everyone turned to look at her, her face as still as stone. She pointed at the boy for a moment before asking, "Ya got more treats in there?"

"Huh? Oh, uhm yeah I do. Want some?" He finished the last of his crepe and tossed the wrapper into the bag when Lo nodded. He pulled out a box of chocolate pocky and tossed it to Lo, who caught it and snuggled the box before tearing into it. He turned to BlackGuilmon and Celena. "Do you guys want some too?"

"I…well what do you have?" BlackGuilmon wondered uncertainly.

"Sure. Hell I deserve a treat after yesterday."

"I have muffins, snack cakes, pocky, mochi, cupcakes, cookies, little individual pies, and individual pieces of cheesecake, taiyaki with custard, other assorted wagashi, and donuts."

"I'll take a chocolate donut." BlackGuilmon said, catching it with a claw when the boy threw it to him.

"I think I'd like some cheesecake actually." Celena said. She caught the tossed container, but missed the little plastic fork he tossed. She picked it up and tore the plastic off.

"Are you sure you don't want any Aniki?" the boy asked Dorumon with a smile.

"I told you I'm on a diet!" Dorumon whined. "Stop tempting me! You're horrible!"

"So," BlackGuilmon said between bites of the chocolaty ring. "What's the deal with you guys? You saved us last night and thanks for that, but why?"

Dorumon stepped forward and cleared his throat. "Right. Anyway, we were sent by your Boss as some outside help. Don't give me that look, it was for a different assignment and we just happened to be in the area last night. Good thing too." He offered with a sly grin. BlackGuilmon glared back but remained silent. "Anyway, I beat Ikkakumon and he turned into an egg. We tossed him back into the digital world and that's that. Otouto and I were supposed to come check in with one of the Boss' men here and we stopped by to see if you were here. Ta-da! You are. So what happened last night with that Ikkakumon?"

"None of your business!" BlackGuilmon cried angrily, pretty much cementing for Dorumon that whatever it was had gone pretty poorly.

"Right. Anyway, we should probably move further in. The guy is supposed to be here soon." Dorumon said with a grin.

"Hate you, hate you and I hate the blonde and the albino kid is okay cause he's got treats but I really, really hate you."

"Ya mad?" Dorumon asked with the best troll face he could make. He grinned at BlackGuilmon's glare and laughed. "Ah, this is gonna be fun." He decided. He followed after the pale boy as they headed into the forest. BlackGuilmon reluctantly followed suit. Celena and Lo exchanged a look before shrugging and following after them.

"Can we put the wrappers in that bag?" Celena asked, holding up her empty cheesecake plastic container. The boy nodded and waited for the two to catch up. Celena smiled at him as she tossed it inside, Lo tossing her box in form a few feet away and fist pumping when she made it. Celena chuckled before turning back to the boy. "So what's your name?"

"Haseo." He answered as he shyly looked away.

"I'm Lo, and that's Celena." The perky blonde declared. "The pudgy lizard,"

"NOT PUDGY!"

"Is BlackGuilmon, and we already heard your partner's name is Dorumon. So what's your mission for this Boss guy?"

"I can't say." Haseo said with a shake of his head. "It's supposed to be secret. I'm glad we could help you out last night though." He dipped into the bag and pulled the taiyaki out. He grinned as he bit into it. He whimpered as Lo reached into the bag and pulled out a donut from the box inside. "I said only one…"

"No ya didn't!"

"Well I meant to." He looked over at Celena and blushed, looking away again. "D-Do you w-want one?" he stammered, holding the bag up.

"It's fine." Celena laughed. "Do you like sweets?"

"Huh? Oh yes!" Haseo cheered with a wide smile. Celena frowned when she realized how sharp his canines were but said nothing. "I love cooking and eating sweets! The look on everyone's faces as they eat the stuff I make just makes me so happy! I want to be a desert chef when I grow up."

"Oh, that sounds cool!" Lo cried. "Getting to make awesome stuff and eat it all day! Hell yeah!"

"Well its more work than that…"

Celena grinned as an idea came to her, snapping her fingers. "Haseo, what do you know about strawberry shortcake?" The group paused but Celena saw the happy look on Haseo's face before he was interrupted. She smiled as BlackGuilmon began explaining.

"Well this is the pickup point." He muttered. "But uh, I don't see anything."

"Ha! As usual, you insult me."

The air before them began to swirl into an inky black vortex. A green eye gazed back out which slowly began to drip out of the darkness. Attached to that were two large, grey claws and large bat wings behind it. It had a very long tail trailing behind him, and black armor on top of its eye. "Good evening BlackGuilmon." He said with a tip of his body.

"You're a sight for sore eyes." The lizard chuckled.

"Ha! I see what you did there." The two shared a hearty laugh before the creature stopped and glared. "No really, stop the eye puns or I'll erase your existence."

"Got it."

The thing turned and gazed and Lo and Celena curiously before asking, "Who are these?" He then turned to Dorumon and Haseo and nodded to them. Haseo bowed back, while Dorumon grunted.

"The one with the red hair is Celena, and her blonde friend is Lo. Celena let me stay at her house overnight. I uh…I didn't retrieve the crystal. I tracked Gomamon down, but something interfered and forced him to evolve. It stole the crystal and left me to fight Ikkakumon. I did my best but in the end I had to retreat and Dorumon saved me."

"Oh…" the creature mused. "Boss won't be happy to hear that. Well, get in the portal for now and we'll report to him together later."

BlackGuilmon paused for a moment and stepped forward. He looked back to Celena who gave a sad smile in return. She waved gently, while Lo waved vigorously. BlackGuilmon looked back, his ears lying flat on his head. "I uh, well uh, what if I don't want to go back?" he wondered. "I…I kind of like it here. I'd rather work from here." He hesitantly turned back to Celena and smiled. "That's okay? Right?"

Celena smiled back and nodded immediately. "It should be okay. We might have to come up with a better solution than my closet, but I definitely wouldn't object to having you stick around longer. I like having you around BlackGuilmon. Digimon are fascinating, and beyond that I like you. And now that I know about you guys I don't think I can just turn away and ignore you. Every time the lights flickered I'd be wondering if a digimon did it. So it's fine if you want to stay here BlackGuilmon. Maybe we could even be partners."

"Oh that's cute. But no. Boss said bring you back, and bring you back I shall. Any attempts to leave Kowloon will be treated as treason and those who turn away will be dealt with sufficiently."

"Since when!" Haseo cried in horror.

"Since our security breach last night." The creature replied. "Boss didn't want to do it, but Argomon-sama convinced him. Please die for me." He brought up his right claw, the amber eye on the palm glowing brightly. "Death Arrow!" he declared as a thin black arrow flew from his claw. BlackGuilmon cried out and tackled Celena to the ground. The arrow shot past them and struck a tree, disintegrating it instantly.

"Deathmon you're out of your mind!" BlackGuilmon roared before firing off a black burst of flames. With a wave of his crimson wings the fire were dispelled.

"You brought this upon yourself." Deathmon replied ominously as he began to float above the ground. "Those who turn against us will die." He brought his claw forward again and shot a stream of arrows at BlackGuilmon. The lizard roared and darted past the arrows, narrowly dodging each one as they sped towards him. They each struck the ground, disintegrating chunks of it as they landed.

"He's a ranged fighter!" Celena cried over the explosions. "Get close enough and with your speed you can dodge his claw strikes!"

BlackGuilmon nodded as he forced himself to keep going. He let returned fire, letting out a shot of his own at Deathmon but it was once again dispelled. BlackGuilmon leapt over the next shot and dived towards Deathmon. The beast brought up his claw, the amber eye glowing as it prepared to fire once more. He cried out as a thick metal ball crashed into his arm, courtesy of Dorumon. BlackGuilmon landed on Deathmon and began to savagely scratch at his closed eye lid.

Deathmon roared in pain and tried to grab at the smaller lizard but with his odd body shape he was unable to get at him. Dorumon leapt onto the beast and attacked with BlackGuilmon, both of them clawing and biting like mad. Deathmon let out an enraged roared and opened his eye wide. With green iris dilated before letting loose a massive black beam into the sky. Dorumon cried out as the edge of it grazed his fur. He was thrown off and crashed to the ground, his fur smoking form the blast.

Deathmon saw his chance and grabbed BlackGuilmon's tail. He tossed him to the ground and stepped on him, making the lizard squeak almost comically. Deathmon's long tail slid around the lizard's throat and forced him into the air. The reptile gasped and clawed at the tail as it tightened around his throat, squeezing the life out of him.

"Did you know? Choking people takes a very long time, especially digimon. Much longer than you'd think. In fact, it's much easier to simply snap the person's neck if you're in the right position. That being said, this is more fun."

BlackGuilmon continued to gasp and claw at the tail. He turned down and desperately tried to spew flames but of course they would not come. He glared at Deathmon, desperately trying to strike at his eye. The beast simply stared back calmly, slowly tightening his tail.

'_I don't want to die_.' He thought as his vision began to darken. _'I don't want to die! Please help! Please help me! Mother!'_

Deathmon shrieked in pain, his eye clamping shut and his tail dropping BlackGuilmon. He rubbed at the eye furiously, his wings thrashing in anger. "Who did that!" he roared. "Who the hell throws dirt in someone's eye! Especially when they're 75% eye!"

Celena grabbed BlackGuilmon and dragged him away as quickly as she could. She tripped and crashed to the ground as the ground in front of her vanished. Deathmon was firing blind now, striking trees and the ground at random. Lo had taken cover, while Haseo was helping Dorumon. Celena forced herself up and pulled BlackGuilmon away. She felt his chest and bent toward his mouth, letting out a sigh of relief as chocolate scented breath came out.

"I said you could stay!" she yelled at him as she dragged him. "You can't die on me after I invited you! Dammit, I want you to stay! I want to learn more about digimon! I want to learn more about your world! I want to learn more about you! I screwed your mission up, so the least you could do is let me repay you by lending you a closet! But I can't do that if you're dead, so dammit BlackGuilmon wake the hell up!" Celena gasped as she tripped and fell to the ground. BlackGuilmon tumbled to the ground, still unconscious.

"Please…" Celena cried. "Please get up! I can't explain it, but I feel connected to you. I feel like we could have been partners." Celena forced herself up and closer to BlackGuilmon. "I can't explain it, but I want to help you! Because…you seem so familiar to me. It's like talking to a friend I haven't seen in years. Even though we just met I feel as if we've been friends forever. So please BlackGuilmon, let me help you! If humans can do it, then let me give you my power!"

Deathmon slowly opened his eye, wiping away the massive tears that spilled out. He looked around and gasped when he saw Celena standing over BlackGuilmon. Her body was covered in red, not from blood, but from a powerful aura surrounding her and BlackGuilmon. The reptile's eyes shot open, his body glowing brilliantly as he forced himself up. "BlackGuilmon! **Super Evolution!**"

BlackGuilmon skin exploded, revealing a mesh of red wireframes underneath. The particles swirled around him as the frame unwound and reformed into a tall human figure. The particles swirled around the wireframe, forming silver armor on his body. An azure blue cape formed behind him, billowing fiercely in his aura. On his right hand formed a massive lance, and on his left was a large shield with the symbol he had once had on his chest now engraved on the center. A helmet covered his face, a small visor similar to his old form's face adorning the top. "ChaosDukemon!" he declared.

"Holy shit!" Lo cried, peeking out from behind the tree she had been hiding behind.

"No." Haseo whispered. "Aniki, I don't understand. How? Why! He looks just like Guilmon and Yukiko did after…after…"

"I don't know Otouto." Dorumon sighed tiredly. "I just don't know…"

Celena stared up at the knight, unable to say anything. The knight turned to her and nodded. "Thank you." He said his voice far clearer and nobler than before. "If you're so intent on helping me, then I won't stop you." He brought his lance forward and pointed the tip at Deathmon and calmly said, "Cruel Balmung." And in that instant, the sword extended as it was covered in a brilliant blue light. It pierced Deathmon's eye and shot out the back. The skin around the wound widened, as if frantically trying to avoid touching the blade. The blade retracted, and Deathmon fell aside. His body slowly began to break apart before reforming into a large black egg.

The top of the egg slowly cracked and as it did so too did the rest of it. The egg shattered to reveal a grey jellyfish with one large red eye. He stared at the ChaosDukemon and Celena for a moment before angrily declaring, "You bastard!"

"So that's what you meant when you said all that egg stuff." Celena said quietly.

"Yeah. Normally it's not that fast." The knight admitted. "Usually takes time to be reborn."

"I am death itself!" the adorable pile of pudding declared. "My own death means nothing! I am ageless, and you're a wanker!"

"Ew. Can I kill him again?"

Celena shrugged. "Does it count as death if he just comes back right away?"

"Brilliant! Bloody brilliant!" Kuramon cried as small tears ran down his one eye. "I knew I shouldn't have done this mission! I knew it! Boss told me it'd work out, but here I am back at square one! It'll take me weeks before I'm Deathmon again!"

ChaosDukemon stepped forward, Kuramon shaking as he did. "What mission?" he snapped. "Did Boss tell you to try killing me from the beginning?"

"No!" Kuramon cried. "Well, not exactly. He told me to test you if you tried to stay behind! He wanted to see if Celena could make you evolve and…well goodness you certainly did! If you passed I was supposed to give you this!" Kuramon stared into the sky and a black bubble formed from his large eye. Within it was a large handheld device shaped like a rectangle. There was a screen on the top segment, and over that a golden V. Beneath it was a circular button with a circular pad surrounding it. "This is meant for Celena!" Kuramon said as the bubble drifted over to the girl.

She hesitantly brought her hand out and the bubble popped. It dropped into her outstretched hands and she gasped in pain as it chocked her. The digivice glowed for a moment before turning a light shade of red, the buttons now both black. The yellow V was replaced by a small white piece of metal with the black Digital Hazard symbol on it.

"Oh wow." She said slowly. "I feel like a bitch."

"You should! This is bad and you should feel bad!" Kuramon yelled over.

"Wait, so I can stay?" ChaosDukemon wondered.

"Yes!" Kuramon cried as he opened a portal and began floating to it. "The Xros Loader can also store digimon inside, so you no longer have to worry about staying hidden as much. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going home to start working on evolving again because somebody killed my other form!" Kuramon gently floated through the portal and it closed behind him without a sound.

"So we win?" Lo asked as she stepped forward. "Hurray?"

"Yeah." Celena said with a nod. She looked at the machine in her hand and couldn't help but smile for some reason. "Hurray." She looked over and smiled at ChaosDukemon, who she knew was smiling as well even though she could not see it. The knight glowed dark blue and a loud popping nosie filled the air as he reverted back to BlackGuilmon.

"Awwwwww!" he whined. "I liked that form! I was so tall!"

"Still kinda pudgy."

"…dammit Lo."

Celena laughed at the two and brought the Loader up. She pointed it at BlackGuilmon, wondering what she should do. A green light shot form the screen and struck BlackGuilmon, sucking him inside. She looked to the screen worriedly and asked, "You okay in there?"

"Yeah its cool." The lizard answered with his voice somewhat faint. "I got internet in here."

"Cool! I want one!" Lo cried.

Celena rolled her eyes and then turned to Haseo and Dorumon. She frowned when she saw Dorumon was gone, but haseo brought his own Loader up. She smiled at him and walked forward. "I hope he's alright."

"I'll be fine!" Dorumon cried out form the device. "I can heal in here really easy."

"He'll be fine." Haseo agreed as he walked back over towards his dropped back of treats. "Maybe I should have given Kuramon one? He seemed awfully upset."

Celena smiled at Haseo. "So there was something I wanted to ask you before Deathmon came." She said thoughtfully. "You see, Lo and I have this project at school about cooking and I'm new to this whole digimon thing. So I was thinking we could meet up at my school and you could help us present, and then go back to my house and take some more."

Haseo's face turned bright red and he looked down at the ground immediately. "I-I-I'd really l-like that."

"Great!" Celena said with a smile as she took her notebook out. She looked up at him and tore the address out of it. "Here." She said brightly. "I'll see you then~!"


	3. Chapter 3

_We run because we fear pain._

_We fight because we fear death._

_We live because we fear eternity._

_I cling to you because I fear myself._

Chapter 3: Loth Me Sweetly

"Those are the cakes right?" Celena asked as she led Haseo through her school.

"Yes. I made them fresh this morning. Did you pick up the extra stuff I asked for?"

"Mostly." Celena answered. "Although I couldn't get the liquor you asked for obviously. We wouldn't be able to use it anyway."

"Oh…Well its okay. I can make do. Besides, I already have it in this cake so it's okay."

"You didn't use too much right?" Celena asked wearily as she stared at him. He shook his head innocently and after a moment of watching him, Celena continued through the hall. "The classroom we're using is right at the end here. It has an oven, a small fridge, and it's stocked with cooking tools and stuff. The way it works is that ideally we bring the ingredients in and everyone pairs off into groups of 4. They make smaller batches of what we brought in, and while that's baking in the oven we eat the stuff we already made. Then they get to divide what they made up into fourths and take that home with them."

"Okay."

Celena paused and looked at him again. "Are you okay? You seem kind of nervous."

"He's just shy." Dorumon said from his partner's digivice. "Just give him a few minutes and he'll be fine."

"Aniki…" Haseo mumbled as his face turned pink.

Celena smiled and said, "Relax. The guys in the club are all pretty tame compared to some of the other clubs. You don't have to worry okay?"

"O-Okay."

Celena gave an encouraging nod and Haseo gently returned it. He let Celena guide him down the hallway and they stopped at the last door. There was a lot of room between it and the door to the left and it was proven to be a very large room when Celena slid the door open and walked inside. She moved to the big desk where Lo was sitting. It had a small sink installed in it and a long counter. There were a lot of drawers filled with cooking utensils, bowls, and pans. Up along the back wall, between the two windows, was a large oven. She turned to the teacher sitting further away, a laptop on the desk before her. "We're ready." She said with a smile.

The teacher closed her laptop and turned to Celena. She had light blonde hair and light green eyes. She wore a pink blouse with a red jacket over it and had a matching skirt. She looked quite young, and in fact this was her first year teaching. "Is that your guest?" she asked as she looked to Haseo. He stared back with a look of shock clearly written on his face. Lo elbowed him in the rib, making him squeak.

"Yes ma'am." Celena answered with a nod.

Her teacher smiled a little and nodded. "Go ahead then. Just everyone be careful to not make a mess."

"Okay!" Lo declared as she turned to the mass of twenty students before her. "Pair up into groups of four if you haven't already so we can start! There will be enough tools for each of you to use, provided you don't attack each other again."

"I thought you said this was one of the saner clubs." Haseo murmured.

"To be fair, it was Lo herself doing the attacking and she was mostly kidding."

"And now it makes sense."

"I don't have a partner." One of the kids said. He was a tall teen with sun kissed skin and dark brown hair. His eyes were light chocolaty brown. His school uniform was a little disheveled but he had a very laidback look to him. "Mind if I help you guys upfront?"

Celena did a quick head count. "Huh. He's right. Yeah sure, if there's nobody else you can come up I guess. That's okay right?"

"What you're asking me?" Lo grunted. "I don't care just so long as we get cake."

The boy grinned as he walked to the front and turned to Haseo. He offered his hand to the boy and said, "My name's Atarashii Haruki. Nice to meet you." Haseo hesitantly took his hand and squeaked when the boy's hand tightened like a vice around it.

"Haseo." He answered quietly.

"Right then, let's big." Lo said and cleared her throat. She then proceeded to go into a thirty minute tirade explaining the very long and boring history of strawberry shortcake and shortcake in general. The rest of the club watched her animated movements as she continued to explain the history and began making large notes on the board behind them. Lo rambled and rambled as she continued to present her facts on the delicious treat until finally turning to the class and smiling. "Everyone get that?" she asked with a smile.

Haseo turned to Celena. "Half of that was wrong. Shortbread, known as shortcake there to avoid confusion with another confection, was made in the United Kingdom in,"

"Cooking time?" Haruki asked hopefully.

"Now that the informative part is done, yes. Its cooking time!"

"But I,"

Celena chuckled a little and said, "Just drop it for now Haseo. Not even I'm here for that stuff. We're all just here to make tasty treats okay?"

"Okay…" Haseo paused when he noticed Haruki and Lo staring at him expectantly. "Huh? O-Oh! Right! I guess I'm on next. Uh, okay sure." He traded places with lo and Haruki moved beside him. "W-Well uhm, this isn't the best recipe but since Celena was gathering the stuff I didn't want to inconvenience her by making her get a ton of extras so this is a rather simple recipe and it won't taste quite like what I brought in but I'm confidant you'll all like it anyway and this really isn't too hard to make so it should be easy for all of you and,"

"Dude, stop." Haruki said as he put a hand on Haseo's shoulder. Haseo shut up and started panting lightly.

"I…right…sorry. So, uhm, anyway we need exactly 2 cups of flour, 3 Tbs. of sugar, 3 tsp. of baking powder, 1/2 tsp. each baking soda and salt, 6 Tbs. of unsalted butter, 2 Tbs. of solid all-vegetable shortening, and 2/3 to 3/4 cup of buttermilk. So I guess we'll pass the stuff around so all the groups can get some? We need to mix all of the dry ingredients into the bowl first. Oh, and Celena please turn the oven on to 450 F."

"Got it!"

Haruki opened a bag of flour and dipped the measuring cup into it. Haseo gasped when he was about to dump it in and grabbed his wrist. "Ow! Hey, what the hell!"

"That's too much." Haseo explained sternly. "Scrap the top off with a butter knife so it's exactly even." Haruki grumbled as he followed Haseo's instructions and then tossed it into the bowl. Haseo gasped again as a light cloud of flour poofed up around the bowl. "Careful! You'll lose precious flower!"

"I don't think it matters that much." Haruki grunted.

"No!" Haseo insisted, though his voice never really got much louder. "It must be exact. That's the key between being a cook and being a chef."

Lo frowned. "I thought the difference was whether you graduated from cooking school or not."

"What do we add next?" Celena asked as she tried getting things back on track.

"Huh? Oh, sugar." He watched as Haruki dipped into the bag of sugar with the teaspoon and gently dropped the contents into the bowl. He did this three times and passed the bag on before giving Haseo a sarcastic smile. If he noticed Haseo ignored him and gave a genuine smile in return. "Okay, we just continue adding the dry ingredients one at a time until they're all in." Everyone continued adding the ingredients and then passing the bag on to the next group. Eventually it was all in the bowl and ready for the next step.

"We slice the butter into small, ¼ inch width pieces and drop it in. then we used the beater to stir it up." Haseo continued. Haruki did so with Haseo analytically watching him slice.

"We've only got two beaters." Celena said. "But we've only got four groups so it shouldn't take long. So do you have this whole recipe memorized then?"

"That's right." Haseo said with a nod. "A good chef has to have all of his best recipes committed to memory." The rest of what he wanted to say was drowned out by the two egg beaters starting up. They whirred loudly as they mixed the ingredients together. "Make sure it's on the lowest setting and be gentle!" Haseo cried over the noise. "With dry ingredients like this, it's easy to send a lot of it into the air with the spinning beaters! Be sure to add the shortening in as you mix!" It took a few minutes but eventually everyone was finished mixing their ingredients so far.

"Is it supposed to look like confetti?" Haruki wondered as he peered into the bowl full of little flecks of dough.

"For now. Next we add buttermilk until it's more like bread dough. We don't want it to be like cookie dough, we want it to be solid and pillowy like bread dough." Haseo gently began stirring as Haruki poured the milk in. "Slower!" he snapped which made Haruki flinch.

"Man you're a bossy little guy." Haruki grunted. Celena and Lo looked at each other blankly.

"Okay, now we need to cover the cutting board in flour and knead the dough." Haseo said as the dough formed the right consistency.

"I can do that!" Lo announced. Haseo gasped as she poured the flower onto the board in a large lump. "Uh, oops. Little too much huh?" Haseo helped her scoop it back into the bag as Celena began kneading the dough. "How long do we do this?" she wondered.

"It should be soft, but firm enough to hold together." Haseo answered as he gently guided the flour off of the board and into the bag with a dry towel.

"I think it's good?" Celena guessed.

"Okay then, everyone fill their pan with it. We need it to be about one inch thick in order for it to cook to the level we want." Haseo moved over to the oven and opened it. He gently slid each of the pans into it one by one and closed it. "With this recipe we have about 15 to 20 minutes for them to cook, and ten minutes for them to cool."

"Right. Cake time!" Lo cheered.

"Not yet, we need to make the filling!" Haseo insisted. "Everyone start chopping the strawberries. We don't need too many for each really. Once their sliced, cut them in half vertically as well and put them into the plastic container." He watch as Haruki cut the strawberries and let out a sigh.

"What?" the taller boy snapped.

"They're not even. Make them even!" Haseo complained.

"Not everything has to be perfect you know." Haruki grunted, though Celena noticed that he was trying a bit harder to cut the little fruit more evenly.

"Yes it does." Haseo answered. "The kitchen is a place of order. It is a perfect haven where masters perfect their skills. Every ingredient must be measured precisely, and things should not be cooked or chilled a second longer than they have to be. Everything has to work together in perfect harmony. Just like in relationships, you can't have too little or too much of one thing. Everything must be spread out evenly to create the perfect dish."

"I get it, I get it." Haruki griped. "What next?"

"We add some sort of liquid." Haseo answered with a smile. "I asked Celena to pick up some juice from the store yesterday. The idea is for the strawberries to be mashed and soaked in the liquid with some sugar. It will pull the juice out and since we're using orange juice instead of water it'll have a nice little tart taste too it as well."

"Got it." Haruki said as he tossed the strawberries into the bowl and began mashing them furiously. Haseo cried out in horror, which only intensified when Haruki poured half the bottle of juice into the bowl. "Like this right?" he grunted.

"No, no, no!" Haseo cried. "We use a little bit of juice. It's meant to pull the flavor of the strawberries out, not drown it. And ideally we need larger chunks than this. Oh this is a disaster." Haseo lamented.

"Relax." Celena said as she put a hand on his shoulder. "Everyone else is doing fine and they look like they're having a nice time."

"That might be because you and Haruki make a good comedy dup though."

"…no helping Lo."

"Alright." Haseo said with a nod. "Cover the container with the lid and let it sit in the refrigerator for thirty minutes or so." Everyone marked their lids with a marker first before putting them all in the refrigerator.

"And no we have cake!" Lo cried.

"No, now we make the cream." Haseo corrected.

"Uh, no." Celena interrupted. "Sorry. I had to get regular whipping cream. They didn't have," she double checked the list. "Mascarpone at the store."

"Oh. Well then yes, cake time." Haseo said as he moved to the three containers. He unclipped the sides on one and opened the container. He very nearly dropped it onto the cake when he was met with applause by the students. The cake looked absolutely stunning. The two layers of cake looked light and fluffy, and the white cream on top was swirled in such a way to create a bed for the strawberries on top. A red syrup had been drizzled over the top of it which had splashed down the sides of the cake and dried to form what looked like a red glaze. It smelled very strongly of strawberries, but there was a hint of orange and a little bit else coming from it. Haseo expertly cut the first cake into eighths and slid one piece onto a plate to reveal the light pink ripples going through the cake itself and the center layer of cream was actually chocolate. He gently slid it onto a paper plate which was immediately snatched up by Lo. Haseo continued to slice more pieces and hand them out to everybody, revealing the two other containers held two identical cakes.

"Haseo this is so good!" Lo cried. "Give me more! People are absent, I'll eat theirs!"

"Lo, stop it." Celena chided. "You can take home some of the extra."

"YES!"

"This is really good Haseo." Celena said with a smile. "And it looks beautiful! How long have you been doing this for anyway?"

"About five years." Haseo answered with a smile. "I have a lot of fond memories of cooking for my older brother and our friends. Everyone would always look so happy when they ate. In that moment it didn't matter what was happening in their personal lives or what we were going through. They were happy to just sit down and enjoy themselves, and my food gave them a reason. I…I really miss those days."

Celena smiled at Haseo and set her plate down before gently hugging him. "I don't really understand what happened, but I can see why your friends were so happy."

"Awwwwwwww, she likes him~!" Haruki giggled. Celena pulled away and stared at the boy in confusion. "You better ask him out quick Celena, or I'll get to him first. I like guys that can cook! I've always wanted to, but I can never ever get things right. Not like Haseo can." You grinned as he took a bite of cake. "Haseo your cream is delicious."

"Oh my." Haseo squeaked as his face turned strawberry red.

"You…wait a minute! Liquor!" Celena cried in horror. "You used that liquor for the sauce for the strawberries didn't you?"

"Yeah but nobody else seems to be affected." Haseo answered as he looked around at everyone else.

"I'm fine." Lo grunted. "No more or less drunk than usual."

"That's bizarrely disheartening actually."

"Shut up Celena."

"This is impossible, he can't be drunk." Haseo said sternly. "There is no possible way this little bit can make a guy his size drunk."

"I didn't eat anything today." Haruki giggled. "I had to skip lunch to make a make-up test!"

"That still doesn't explain it." Haseo insisted. "Haruki, stop letting the placebo effect work. You are not drunk."

"Can I have a hug?" Haruki asked with a grin.

"Haseo, maybe you should take Haruki out for some fresh air." Their teacher suggested. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about this. Just take care of him okay?"

"Y-Yes that's a good idea Haruno-sensei." Haseo agreed. "Come on Haruki, let's go out back." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded up piece of paper. "Here Celena, this is a list of instructions for finishing everything up."

"Got it." She said with a nod. "Be careful with Haruki okay?"

Haseo nodded and guided Haruki out of the room. He looked around the hallway and saw a door leading outside across the hallway in front of him. He led Haruki, who was clinging to him quite tightly. "You're adorable Haseo." He said with a grin.

"Th-thank you Haruki but please calm down."

"I'm serious. You seem nicer than those other guys. You're not…" he trailed off for a moment as his eyes refocused a bit. "You're not as scary as the other ones. I feel kind of safe around you."

"We've hardly known each other for thirty minutes." Haseo argued.

"Love at first sight." Haruki slurred with a grin. "Heh, or maybe I'm just desperate."

Haseo pushed Haruki outside quickly with the door swinging shut behind them. The area was out behind the school. A fair distance away was the soccer field, but it was empty as according to Celena practice had been canceled that day for unknown reasons. Unknown to Haseo at any rate. Judging by the cigarettes butts on the ground this was the faculty's pseudo smoking area.

"I'm glad we're alone." Haruki said with a grin.

"Stop it Haruki, you're just a little tipsy. Somehow. Just take a deep breath and maybe the stuff will work its way out of your system." Haseo insisted.

"Not really." Haruki said with a wider grin.

"…What?"

"I faked that." Haruki said with a shrug. "Was I that good? Weird. I thought I was over doing it a bit. You're right by the way. No way a little bit like that would affect me."

"Why!" Haseo cried in disbelief. "Why would you do that!" He turned back to the door and pushed at the handle but stopped when it jammed. He paled a little and tried again.

"Ah, yeah. These doors lock automatically. I tried catching it before it closed but you pushed me away from you too hard. We'll have to walk the long way around."

"Oh." Haseo sighed.

"Before that though, I wanted to take to you about something." Haruki said as he got a little closer. "I know it was wrong of me to do this whole drunk charade thing, but I needed to get you away from them. You seem like the shy type when you're not cooking."

"What are you talking about?" Haseo wondered.

"Were my 'drunken' passes not clear enough?" Haruki asked with another grin. Haseo blushed, suddenly feeling like cornered prey. He backed up farther against the door on instinct. "I think you're cute and wanted to ask you out on a date. Go see a movie or have dinner or something. I had to get you out here because I knew you'd be way too embarrassed with all those people in there."

"I-I…y-you…a-a-and me…?" Haseo stammered incoherently. He blushed bright red when Haruki giggled.

"Yeah. You and me. On a date. This Friday. Or Saturday if that's better."

"W-W-Why me?" Haseo murmured as he brought his hands up to his face. "I don't understand. Why would you ever want to ask me out?"

"You're cute, you're fun to tease, you're a good cook, but you've got backbone when you're passionate about something. You're shy and wimpy, but I can feel something else in you. A hard, iron core. A sharp edge under all the snowy fluff. Like a little cat, cute and fuzzy but you have sharp claws."

"A-A cat? Interesting analogy."

"So is that a yes or a no?" Haruki asked with a warmer smile this time. Haseo looked at the tan boy and, despite his heart still beating like mad, managed to smile a little too.

"It'd be my first date." Haseo mumbled.

"I'll teach you everything you need to know. I've been on plenty of dates." Haruki offered. "Come on, please?"

"I-I-I'm sorry but I can't. I just…it feels wrong."

"Why?" Haruki asked as a frown crossed his lips. "Do you already have a boyfriend? A girlfriend? Celena right? Yeah I thought so."

"No, nothing like that!" Haseo protested, perhaps a little too loudly.

"What then?" Haruki asked indignantly. "You're straight right? Figures. All the good guys are either straight or taken."

"I am," Haseo paused for a moment and looked down for a moment. "Undecided. I'm not sure what I am." He gasped when Haruki took his hands in his own, the taller boy smiled widely. Haseo frowned as he looked at him and despite himself he began to feel oddly sorry for the taller boy.

"Then we'll figure out together!" he said eagerly, or perhaps the better word would be desperately. "One date, that's all I ask! Please?"

Haseo opened his mouth but stopped. He left it open like a fish gasping for air before slowly shaking his head. "I'm sorry." He said as he began to cry softly. "I can't. I'm not ready to date. I don't want any romance. Please, I know this sounds weird but I just can't. It's still too strange."

Haruki backed off and let out a little chuckle. "Come on." He said with a sad smile. "You sound like I'm asking you to strip down and do it right here. I get it. If it means that much to you then sure, fine. I'll lay off. Sorry for tricking you okay? Just stop crying? I don't like seeing cute guys like you cry like this."

"Yeah." Haseo whimpered as he dried his eyes on his sleeves. "Sorry. I know this must all sound odd but I'm just not comfortable with dating yet. Maybe some other time okay?"

"Sure." Haruki agreed with a little sigh. "I get it."

"People like us are always getting shot down." A calm voice echoed around them. Haseo's eyes widened immediately and he pushed Haruki behind him. "People always act so mean to us don't they? How many times have you been rejected? How many times have you been made fun of? Everyone else acts like we're monsters just because we want to be loved!"

Haruki looked up and asked, "Who are you?"

"Don't!" Haseo insisted. "Run! Get out of here and leave this to me!"

But neither the voice nor the boy paid him any mind. "Someone like you. Someone whose been scorned more times than they can count. Someone fed up with this love and all of these happy couples! Why must I be the one to suffer! Why isn't there anyone willing to love me! They lie and cheat to get out of it! They lie through their teeth to avoid people like us! I have a girlfriend! I'm not into guys! I just can't right now! It's complicated! Bullshit!"

Haruki gasped and grabbed his chest. Haseo turned to him but he was knocked away by the boy as he stumbled forward, crying out in pain. A blood red aura surrounded him, burning like flames. "No more!" the voice continued. "I'm tired of being ignored! I'm tired of being rejected! I'm tired of being alone! Let me in Haruki! Admit it! You feel the same way! You hate them all don't you! The ones who belittled you! The ones who laughed at you! The bastards that rejected you!"

Haruki let out a soft gasp, his arms dropping to his side. Haseo ran to him but the red flames exploded and intensified. They surrounded Haruki as they floated into the sky. The boy cried out in pain as the flames engulfed him completely. It crashed to the ground and knocked Haseo back. The pale boy forced himself up, but gasped in horror at the sight before him.

"I'm scared." His voice quivered with each word. "I'm scared of being alone. I don't want to be alone anymore! Why won't anyone give me a chance!" Behind him were tattered red mouth wings that hung limply on his back. His body was covered in tight black armor with flames flickering on the edges. His face was covered up completely by a black mask, blinding him from the world. At the end of each wing was a long chain attached to a large weight, the chain wrapped around his wings and arms to bind him down.

"Emotions, so easily twisted. I am Shadramon Fear Mode. I see you too are afraid of being alone. Don't worry; I'll end your suffering for you. You won't have to face these horrors alone any longer."


	4. Chapter 4

Short chapter, but I managed to pack a lot of foreshadowing in and stretching anything out anymore would just ruin it. Pay attention readers.

Chapter 4: Dreadful Terror

"We should end this quickly. There are not many people here now, and we have room but if things get too out of hand then it will raise suspicion." Haseo held up his digivice as the screen glowed. "Aniki, please help me!"

"You don't need to ask Otouto I-holy crap!" Dorumon cried as he gazed up at the chained moth man. "I can't tell if that's…is that thing somehow a human?"

"A digimon has forced a merge with a human." Haseo answered. "Its just like what the Boss warned us about. Weren't you paying attention in the digivice?"

"I may have been sleeping."

"Ah. That's not surprising."

The digimon laughed as he brought his chained arms up. "You think you can call for help? How adorably naïve. Everyone leaves you eventually. They leave you to this cold world to fend for yourself! They abandon you in this terrifying hell! Single Flame!" He declared as a fireball formed between his claws and shot out. Dorumon flipped aside, landed, and leapt into the air in one fluid movement.

"Those flames aren't hot enough to touch me!" he taunted. "Metal Cannon!" Dorumon opened his mouth and shot out a thick ball of metal. It crashed into the beast's head but it didn't seem to notice. A small hairline fracture appeared. Dorumon landed on the monster's shoulders and opened his mouth wide. "Dino Tooth!" he declared as his teeth began to gleam like metal.

"Sorrow Wave." Shadramon answered as a black ripple exploded around him. Dorumon was sent flying off but he caught himself and landed safely. He gasped as a fireball exploded on him but he shook it off.

"I told you, that won't work!" he roared as he straightened his back. "Dash Metal!" he cried as a thin spear of metal flew out of his mouth. Shadramon paused for a moment as a black ripple burst around him. The spear was knocked aside, falling down and imbedding itself a good foot in the dirt.

"Stop attacking me!" Shadramon roared as a black ripple burst around him. The spear was knocked aside and landed in the dirt. "I'm alone. I'm scared. Why won't anybody listen to me!" Shadramon roared as his wings began to beat fiercely. Black Flames engulfed his body as he charged towards Dorumon. Dorumon cried out as he dived to the side. The flames licked at his fur as the demon passed him by. Dorumon hissed in pain as he sprang back up.

"If you won't come to me, than I'll come to you!" Shadramon roared. "Embrace of Terror!" The flames exploded around him as he dived down on Dorumon again. Dorumon stood his ground as he took a deep breath.

"Dash Metal!" he roared as he sprayed out hot liquid metal from his throat. Shadramon roared as it covered his helmet. He tackled into Dorumon and the two tumbled to the ground. The black flames intensified as Shadramon forced himself off. He frantically tore at the metal encasing his helmet. He let out pained sobs as he turned the flames on his face and melted the metal off.

"Why would you do that!" he cried. "Why is everyone trying to hurt me! All I want is someone to love but everyone always uses me!"

"We get it!" Dorumon snapped as he forced himself off the ground. "You're scared. You're alone. Quite your bitching already! If you're alone then make friends! If you're scared then ask for help! You can't just wallow in your own self pity!"

"Aniki…"

Shadramon leapt back into the air as his wings began to beat rapidly again. "You don't know anything! You have your human but for how long? Do you really think your bond will last forever!"

Dorumon looked away.

_It was fun while it lasted huh?_

"I…"

"See!" Shadramon laughed his voice cracked and desperate. "You know it too! You know how terrifying it is to be alone. You know how scary this world can be!" Shadramon continued to laugh, even as his helmet was struck by a black fireball. Haseo looked back to see Celena and BlackGuilmon standing behind them.

"Where do you get off saying things like that?" BlackGuilmon hissed. "People like you are the worst. You're not able to get over your own insecurities so you try to project them onto other people! Your problems are yours alone. You can ask for help, but at the end of the day whether you're brave enough to keep living is on you!"

Celena ran over to Haseo and smiled at him. "You look okay. You're not hurt right?"

"I…uh huh."

Celena frowned as she asked, "Then why do you look ready to cry?"

Haseo quickly turned away and rubbed his eyes with his sleeve. "Its nothing." He insisted weakly. "Come on, let's take Shadramon down and save Haruki!"

Celena frowned again, though this time out of confusion. "Save Haruki? Where is he?"

"Inside Shadramon. It's a long story."

BlackGuilmon grinned as he stood beside Dorumon. "Can't say I care either way. If he's in their then we'll pull him out. Come on, you're not the kind of guy who would let petty words get to him right?"

Dorumon glared at the lizard before turning away with a huff. "It's not like your one to take, Pudgy."

"I am not pudgy!"

"Look at me!" Shadramon howled. "Stop ignoring me and look at me! Don't you get it! This won't last! We're alone! We're all alone in this world! We make bonds to try to escape the fear. Fear of life, fear of death, we desperately cling to each other to escape life's pains but its pointless! The bonds break overtime. There's nothing that can be done. In the end, you're just scared and alone."

Celena smiled as she held her digivice up. "I'll show you just how strong our bond is." She answered. "BlackGuilmon!"

"BlackGuilmon, super evolution!" The lizard roared as a dark blue aura surrounded him. It formed a large egg which shattered as he emerged. It was decidedly not covered in armor and lit lacked a cape. It did not have a shield of any description, though he did have two long blades on his wrists. He looked to be a larger BlackGuilmon, about ten feet or so and he had grown a mane of wild white hair.

Haseo stared and grunted, "Huh."

Dorumon blinked. "That's rather underwhelming."

"Maybe our bond really isn't that strong." Celena muttered.

BlackGrowlmon looked at his new formed curiously. "That's unexpected." He admitted. "Still, good enough!" He brought his claws out as the blades on his arms began to glow dark blue. He launched himself at Shadramon and swung the blade. The butterfly demon brought up his bound arms and blocked the blow in his claws. The two continued to push against each other, overwhelming heat and force emanating form them.

"Still powerful." Celena muttered. "Just…not nearly as strong as before."

Haseo shook his head. "I have no idea. I thought his evolution before was way too strong so this makes sense but why would he become ChaosDukemon in the first place?"

"Sorrow Wave!" Shadramon cried as he let loose a black ripple. BlackGrowlmon stumbled back, giving Shadramon enough time to ram into his gut and topple him. He crashed onto his stomach and brought his hands up. "Burn!" he roared as he let loose a torrent of black flames. Dorumon tackled into him and knocked him off of BlackGrowlmon who slowly forced himself up.

"Those black flames are too much even for my skin." He grunted. His skin tingled with the sensation of new burns. He caught Dorumon as Shadramon threw him off. "Hey, you gonna use this sword back here or what?"

"Idiots." Shadramon snapped. "Your bond means nothing. It won't survive the test of time. If this is all the power you have then you'll be alone and frightened soon enough. Just accept it. Trying to fight the fear will only make it that much worse when your world falls apart." The black flames formed around him again as he walked forward. He let out a sad chuckle. "I'm afraid. I'm so afraid. I'm so terrified I can't even think. Why bother fighting? Things will fall apart eventually anyway. That's why I'm afraid. I'm afraid of things ending. I don't want to bond if people will leave. I don't want to fight if I'll loose. I don't want to live if everything will just fall apart!"

Haseo stepped forward, his hands clasped together. "But that's part of life. You have to accept the good and the bad. Even if there are times when we are legitimately alone we have to keep fighting. If things will always fall apart, then that means they would have to be good in the first place right? Even if every bond ends, wasn't it worth it having those people with you? The fact that you're afraid of loosing people means they really mean something to you." Haseo stopped and grabbed the blade on Dorumon's back. He gently slid the azure blade from the black sheathe and held it out.

"That's why we live."

_Come on Neko, let's go play~!_

_You wanted to help me right? Let's make some for Kurogane too, okay?_

_I wanna see them smile. I wanna see everyone smile when they eat the food I make!_

"I'm not afraid of loosing people!" Haseo cried. "I'm not afraid to live! Even if it hurts, I can't let what he did be in vain! Aniki!"

"Right!" Dorumon cried as a black egg of energy formed around him. The egg shattered as a taller monster emerged. His fur was jet black and his talons were blood red. His full wings spread out, his amber eyes glaring at Shadramon. "We're not afraid to stop fighting!" Dorugamon roared. He lunged forward as he opened his mouth. He fired off a rapid series of cannon balls at Shadramon. The digimon hissed as he flew to the side to avoid them, but had no idea Haseo was already there. Haseo brought his blade up and cut through Shadramon's right wing.

The beast howled in pain as Haseo slipped away. He let out another black ripple, but by now Dorugamon had already begun to fire more of the cannon balls. Shadramon gasped as two struck him, one in the stomach and one in the head. He stumbled back as Haseo struck behind him, tearing through his left wing. "Get back here!" Shadramon sobbed. He grabbed at Haseo but the pale boy had already skittered away.

"I'm right here!" Dorugamon roared as he punched Shadramon. His helmet cracked, the small line spreading throughout the top of the helmet. Haseo charged him, his blade held high. He cut into Shadramon's chest and pulled back before striking again. Dorugamon's tail shot out and clubbed Shadramon was he tried to fight back against Haseo. The pale boy continued his assault, the two working in perfect tandem. Haseo would attack, cutting Shadramon, as Dorugamon defended, blocking the beast's arms and pulling Haseo back when the black ripple appeared. Haseo slid past Shadramon and stopped behind him. Dorumon struck him with his tail and brought his claw back, the talons gleaming like metal.

"Bond's Edge!" they cried as one, the blade sinking into the back as the claw struck his chest. Shadramon gasped as the sword emerged from his stomach. He stared down at it in horror, slowly walking forward. Dark flames began to lick at his tattered wings. The cracks on his helmet deepened before it shattered completely. Haruki looked up, tears in his eyes.

"I don't want to be alone anymore." He sobbed as he fell back. Haseo dropped his word and caught him, gently lowering him to the ground. The remains of the digimon exploded and formed a black egg beside Haruki. Celena was relieved to see Haruki was completely unharmed.

Haseo answered with a smile, "You don't have to be."

Haruki began to openly sob, his body shaking furiously. "It had been so sudden. It happened last year."

"Don't try to talk." Dorugamon grunted before turning back into Dorumon. "You look okay, but…"

Haruki shook his head as he forced himself up into a sitting position. "I have to." He said. "If I can't tell someone now, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to."

Celena smiled as she knelt beside him. "Go ahead." She offered.

Haruki nodded. "It…it happened last year. I met a boy named Shinji last year. I had only just recently come out of the closet and it was almost like he had been waiting for me. It was like love at first sight. We started dating almost immediately. Other kids would taunt us or bully us, but I didn't care. So long as he was with me I wasn't afraid. When I was with him I could stand up to whoever made fun of us. I could protect him. But one day when we were walking home he was hit by a car. It was so sudden I couldn't believe what had happened. One minute we were talking to each other, and the next he was gone. I felt so broken after that. I felt so terrified. It could just as easily have been me. Honestly I wish it had. He was gone just like that. All of the time we spent together meant nothing now. We had no future together. We had no chance. Just like that, our bond ended. I shut myself out for a while. I was too scared of something like that happening again, but at the same time I desperately wanted someone like Shinji again. Without him I was weak. I couldn't stand up for myself. So eventually I started flirting with other guys. I wanted to find someone to protect. Someone to love. But I came on a little too strong. They called me controlling and demanding. I told them I'd change but everyone left me and soon enough, everyone was avoiding me. I've been so afraid lately. Afraid of rejection, afraid of being alone, and when I did finally have someone I was so afraid of loosing them that I drove them away."

Haruki reached over and pulled the egg closer. "This guy understood that I think." He said quietly. "He knew what being alone was like. He's the same as me. I want to keep this egg."

"What!" BlackGuilmon cried. "No way in hell! I'm sending that to the Boss and he's getting rid of it!"

"No!" Haruki insisted. "Please, I know what happened. He wasn't the one controlling me. Something got to him first, and used him to get me. I can't describe it, but please trust me. I can tell he needs help."

"You've already admitted to having a hero complex." BlackGuilmon grunted. "You're not in the right frame of mind. Take a deep breath and think this out. He tried killing you!"

Haseo stared at the egg for a moment before sighing. "I think it might be better to let Haruki keep it."

"Otouto…"

"Are you sure?" Celena asked.

"Yeah." Haseo said with a nod. "I'd be better to watch what it hatches into then outright destroy it. Maybe we can discern something from it when it hatches."

"Most digimon loose their memories after being reborn, but this is an odd circumstance." Dorumon mused. "We should call the Boss later to double check, but I think this'll be okay. Worst case scenario we'll just have to beat them up again."

BlackGuilmon scowled. "I guess."

"Oh that reminds me." Haruki said as he stood up. Haseo helped him steady himself when he began to wobble but he seemed okay. "What are you guys anyway?"

Celena smiled as she pulled out a notebook. "I can answer that." Celena quickly gave Haruki a summary of all of the information she had. He was a little confused at points, but he seemed to understand it well enough. Haseo called the Boss while she explained.

"Alright I'll tell them." Haseo said before hanging up. "The Boss said its fine. You just have to bring the egg over for one of us to check out every day."

"What like virus scans?" Haruki wondered.

"Yeah sort of." Dorumon grunted.

"For the record, I still oppose this." BlackGuilmon said with his arms crossed.

"It'll be fine." Celena assured him. She looked back up to Haruki and smiled warmly. "I'm not really sure how to say this but,"

Haruki shook his head. "It's fine. You don't have to say anything. I know I sort of unloaded on you guys pretty suddenly like that and I'm sorry. I just had to get it off my chest you know? Sorry if it made you feel awkward."

Celena couldn't help but chuckle a little. "You're not the one who should be apologizing! It's good to get stuff like that off your chest. How about we all trade cell numbers? We should hang out together after school too. I still have a few questions for Haseo and Dorumon, and I'm sure you must be pretty confused too."

Haruki groaned. "Honestly I just want to go to bed. Is there anything I should know about this?"

"He'll hatch on his own." Dorumon answered. "Just keep him out of sight okay? Digimon evolve very quickly when they first hatch so he'll really only be a baby for a couple of hours at most. After that their aging slows down. He'll probably hatch tomorrow some time around now."

"I continue to oppose."

"Nobody cares." Dorumon snapped. "You can oppose all you like, but the Boss' word is law. Feel free to call him up, but unless you want to be verbally broken over the phone I suggested you shut up with the complaining and go eat some cake."

"Whatever happened to that cake anyway?" Haseo wondered.

"Knowing Lo she probably swiped it and ran off when I went to go find you guys."

"Oh. No big deal, I can make more." Haseo turned to Haruki, a small blush on his face. "So, I'm sorry but the answer to your question is still no. But I do want to walk you to your house if that's okay. To make sure you're feeling alright and stuff. And maybe to talk more along the way. Answer any questions you have or anything."

Haruki smiled tiredly and nodded. "I'd like that. Sorry for everything that happened. I shouldn't have tricked you like that. I think I'm done with trying to find a new guy. I shouldn't be in such a hurry to move on. I'm not quite ready to let Shinji go yet."

Celena frowned as she looked between the two. "I'm a little confused. What happened before we came out here?"

"Nothing." Haseo said with a face the color of a cherry.

"Heh, whatever you say Haseo. I guess I'll head home now too. I'll call later so we can make plans okay?"

"Sure." Haseo said with a nod.

Haruki watched as Celena left, BlackGuilmon getting sucked into the digivice. "I see why you like here. She's nice."

"Please don't say such things."

The walk home was uneventful. Haseo mostly spent the time explaining some more things about digimon and how to treat the egg. He told Haruki he'd have a new digivice ready for him by the next day, courtesy of the Boss. After seeing Haruki off he walked back to his house and walked inside. He took his shoes off by the door and let Dorumon out of his digivice.

"We met another new friend today." He said as he emerged.

"Yeah." Haseo said with a found smile. "I like Haruki. He's nice." Haseo shuffled into the kitchen and picked the note up off the counter. "Oh. Masato-san and Yukari-san won't be back until later." He said. He slowly read the note and frowned. "That makes sense." He muttered as he put the note back down. He walked into the living room and collapsed onto the sofa.

"Aniki?"

"Yeah?"

Haseo looked to Dorumon as he walked closer. He gently scratched the dragon's ears as he let out a sigh. "I can't help it." Haseo muttered. "I didn't want to say it to Haruki, but what he said before about Shinji-san. It kind of reminded me about…" Haseo trailed off, his lips beginning to quiver. "Aniki am I a bad person?"

Dorumon sat beside Haseo and hugged him tightly. "Of course not!" he insisted. "You're a great person! You saved Haruki today, and whoever that digimon was."

"I know but I lied to him." Haseo sobbed, his face buried in his hands. "I lied to him when I said I'm not afraid of loosing people. Aniki I'm terrified! When everyone left before I felt so broken. All I had left was you and I love you but after meeting so many other people it wasn't enough. I'm glad we're back with Masato-san and Yukari-san but it's not the same. I want everyone back together again. I'm nothing but a selfish brat!"

"Stop it!" Dorumon yelled. Haseo gasped, looking up at the dragon in shock. "Dammit Haseo, don't you think I do too? Don't you think I regret what happened to Kurogane, or what I let happen to you? I know your upset Haseo, but please stop beating yourself up over it. It's like you said. The fact that you miss them so much means they had a big impact on you. If they saw you like this, what would they say?"

Haseo sniffed and wiped his eyes. "Chizuru would make fun of me, Solarmon would say I'm bringing him down, Yukio would give me some candy, and Feathermon would just sit and smile at me until I pet him. Yukari-san would console me, and Masato-san would offer to help me."

"Exactly." Dorumon said with a smile. "Everyone would try to cheer you up, just like you would try to help anyone else. If you need to cry then cry. But please stop beating yourself up over this. Otouto it's not healthy. You're not always the one at fault."

"I know." Haseo sighed. "I just really wish Kurogane were here right now."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Elements of Disaster

"You're pretty cute for a little bug thing." Haruki chuckled as he gently tickled the large brown pinecone on his bed. It wriggled and shook, the pines rustling in small waves. On top of the pinecone was a smooth green top, soft and squishy to the touch. Haruki poked him, a large green head rolling out. His black eyes stared at Haruki, his vertical mouth closed tightly. Haruki smiled at him warmly. "So how are you today?" he asked. "You just hatched last night but then you went right to sleep."

"…hungry." The little bug squeaked out.

"Well what does a guy like you eat?" Haruki wondered aloud.

"Leaves. I'd like leaves." He answered. Haruki picked him up, the green head withdrawing into the pinecone again. Haruki took the large bug downstairs and out into the backyard. "Like this?" he asked as he set the digimon down next to a bush. He slid out of his pinecone and began to munch on the foliage of the bush. Haruki smiled and took his cell phone out. "Hey Haseo." He greeted.

"Oh. Hello Haruki. Can I help you?"

"Minomon hatched." Haruki answered excitedly. "He hatched last night before bed. He ate the remaining bits of his shell and then fell asleep. He's like this bug looking guy and,"

"I know what Minomon looks like. I've seen one before."

"Oh, right. Anyway, I woke him up this morning and we talked for a little bit. He doesn't remember anything about what happened. It's like you guessed. He can't remember anything about his past life except one or two trace memories."

"I see. We won't be getting any leads there then." Haseo fell silent for a moment, presumably thinking Minomon over.

"It kinda sucks." Haruki sighed. "Having everything stolen away from you like that. What if I wasn't around? What would happen to him?"

"It's not that bad." Haseo answered softly. "He's alive after all right? It's better than just not being there anymore. I heard what he said too you know. He didn't exactly sound happy with his lot in life either. A lot of times, when a digimon reincarnates its a second chance for them. They can live a new, better life. Ideally anyway. You're right in what you implied though. A lot of the time when a digimon hatches it will be all alone to fend for itself."

"How awful!" Haruki cried in horror. "You mean there are little kids just wandering around the digital world, waiting to get gobbled up by the bigger guys!"

"Well, bluntly put yes." Haseo admitted. "But not everybody is out to hurt everyone else. That's how families are made in the digital world. A stronger digimon adopts a younger one, training and caring for him. Eventually when the stronger one dies and reincarnates, the child will look after the new digimon."

"Weird." Haruki grunted. "How do you know so much about all this Haseo?"

Haseo fell silent for a good minute. Haruki frowned, wondering if he had somehow struck a nerve. Finally, Haseo spoke. "We're meeting at Celena's house today. We agreed it would be easier since I live the furthest away from you guys. I'll fill you in there. You deserve to know what happened to you and Minomon."

"Do you know something?" Haruki frowned as the call went dead. "Man he's annoying. Trying to act all tough. Of course if you can fight a digimon on your own I guess you kind of deserve that honor. Are you all done Minomon?" Haruki looked up and paused, his eyes widening in awe.

"I finished your bush."

_Hey Haseo?_

_Yeah Kurobane?_

_When we get back to the human world, you'll come with us right?_

_Yeah of course! It sounds so cool there! I want to see all the kinds of foods there are and cakes to eat._

_You're terrible! And you say Dorumon has a one-track mind!_

_Heh, but it's not for me._

_Oh?_

_Of course! When we get back to your world, I'll make a big feast for everyone with Yukio's help! There'll be lots of cakes and sweets, but other stuff too. It'll be a big party for the whole team! We'll all go over to Tamaki's house and have a big party!_

_That sounds awesome!_

_Uh-huh! I really want to do it because I really like cooking for you Kurobane. For a long time I only cooked for my brother and I so we wouldn't starve, but since I met you I've been enjoying it more. I don't just want to cook to live; I want to cook to see everyone smile._

…_thank you Haseo. Really. Let's end this, okay? We're almost done and then we can all go back home. So let's just keep pushing forward._

_Yeah!_

"I brought a cake." Haseo said when Celena opened her front door.

"We haven't even known each other for a week and this doesn't surprise me in the least." Celena laughed. "Thanks Haseo, I appreciate it. Haruki and Minomon are already here, so come on in and make yourself at home. We're all in the living room." Celena walked back into the kitchen to retrieve some plates and forks. Haseo moved out to the living room and smiled at Haruki, Minomon, and BlackGuilmon.

"Hey." He greeted.

"Hey." Haruki said, looking up from the sofa. He helped Haseo set the cake on the small coffee table and pulled the plastic lid off. He let out a low whistle when he saw Haseo's handiwork. "When did you make this?" he asked.

"Just earlier today." Haseo said with a shrug. "It's not that impressive. I've made better."

BlackGuilmon sniffed at the large, double-decker pastry. It was a moist, chocolate cake with chocolate chips and cherry juice swirled into the batter before cooking. It was surrounded by thick creamy icing, and the top had eight cherries, each sitting on little flowers of chocolate cream. Chocolate syrup has been driveled over the top of the cake and the sides had been garnished with spare cake crumbs. "Cake." The dragon said as he eyed it. "I love cherries."

"When did you make the cake exactly?" Haruki asked again. "I called you before school, and it just let out a little while ago."

"I'm not enrolled in any school." The albino boy answered with a shrug.

"Oh." Celena said as she set the plates out. "Maybe you are a delinquent."

"Wh-what! No way!" Haseo insisted. "I just don't have time for school! I'm normally doing jobs for the Boss or some other employer."

BlackGuilmon eyed the boy suspiciously. "What sort of jobs?"

Dorumon grunted. "Oh y'know. Item retrieval, bounty hunting, procuring items of specific value from those who do not rightfully deserve them, the cessation of one's existence who has begun to irk our employer a little too much."

"Wait, you guys are hitmen!" Celena cried in horror.

"N-n-n-n-no!" Haseo stammered in a panic. "Well, okay maybe once or twice but only after really making sure they deserved it."

"Oh calm down, both of you." Dorumon grunted. "You act like it's a big deal. Yeah, we've killed before. It happens in the digital world. A lot. But we always make sure that who we target really deserves it and their digimon anyway. Killing them just lets them reincarnate so it usually makes things better in the long run."

"Calm down, all of you." BlackGuilmon sighed. "It's a different kind of morality Celena. Don't think about it too hard okay? Stuff like this is different for digimon."

"…that doesn't make it right."

"Yeah, but it doesn't make it wrong either. Look, Minomon wouldn't be here now if Haseo and Dorumon didn't fight to kill. The other day when we were fighting Ghoulmon, did you ever once think about holding back?" Celena winced but said nothing. "Exactly. When you're a digimon you fight as hard as you can, or die. It's that simple."

"I get it…" Celena sighed. "Right, okay, sure, whatever. Haseo why did you call us all here? You said you wanted to fill us in but you didn't say much beyond that last night when you called."

"Right." Haseo said as he sat down between BlackGuilmon and Dorumon. "The truth is, Aniki and I know what happened with Haruki and Minomon. Kind of."

"Either of you ever hear of a guy named Vulcanusmon?" Dorumon questioned.

"No." Minomon answered, currently withdrawn into his pinecone.

"Rings a bell but no." BlackGuilmon admitted.

"He was a member of the Twelve Olympians. The Twelve Olympians were ocne a powerful group of digimon that helped protect the digital world, but over the years the vast majority of them ended up with a very fatal case of dead."

"Oh yeah!" BlackGuilmon said, clicking his claws. "They say the Boss used to be one of them, but nobody knows for sure."

"I've heard those rumors too." Haseo agreed. "Anyway, Vulcanusmon and the Boss were very good friends. Vulcanusmon as a member was rather weak, but he had amazing ability when it came to crafting weapons. Digimon would travel the world over just to get a letter opener made by him. His works include Vulcan's Hammer, Berenjena, Zanahoria, and Oro Salmon."

Haruki smirked. "Why am I suddenly hungry?"

"Yeah…" Dorumon sighed. "He had a habit of working when he was hungry. Or so I'm told. Anyway, regardless of the names they were all very powerful weapons in their own right. But Vulcanusmon was very fickle and would only work for those who he thought could bring out the full potential of his art. The downside was that he had a habit of making weapons for anyone, good or bad. Keep that in mind."

Haseo continued. "Eventually the Olympus Twelve disbanded because…well mostly because by that time they were more like the Olympus Six. Vulcanusmon left the group and started working on his own. He wanted to create weapons stronger enough to bring peace to the digital world. He had heard a legend about a great power known as the Digimentals. Each Digimental, of which there were supposedly 10, was said to empower the bond between human and digimon. It allowed the digimon to become a frighteningly powerful form, beyond that of even normal evolution."

"Wait, do you mean"

"Hush Haruki, we're getting to it." Dorumon snapped.

"Man you've been pushy today." BlackGuilmon grunted.

"Oh. Sorry. There uh…there was a cat outside who kept crying. Anyway, Vulcanusmon wanted to use the Digimentals but had no idea where they were. They're ancient super weapons, so of course nobody could bother to keep tabs on them! Anyway, Vulcanusmon set out to create his own copies of the Digimentals with…mixed results."

"How so?" Celena asked.

"Well they weren't as strong as the legends for one." Dorumon grunted.

"And they were corrupted." Haseo continued quietly. "Though Vulcanusmon had tried to create a miracle, instead he created a curse. He sealed the Digimentals away in his vault, along with the other weapons he deemed too dangerous and his unfinished projects."

"The man was good at what he did, but he jumped around projects like crazy." Dorumon chuckled. "It's a miracle he even finished working on…never mind. Anyway, he locked them up tight so that they wouldn't corrupt anyone."

"What happened then?" Haruki wondered. "Obviously one of them got out."

Dorumon let out a heavy sigh, his eyes falling. "Vulcanusmon died, and the two sons who had been guarding his vault were quickly taken away. Over the following years the vault was raided by various thieves. The Boss has been attempting to collect the weapons and keep them out of harm's reach with mixed results."

BlackGuilmon paused, his jaw dropping. "Oh. Crap."

"Yeah." Dorumon grunted. "Chances are pretty high that the package Gomamon stole was one of the Digimentals."

BlackGuilmon let out an anguished cry, burying his face in his claws. "I'm horrible! Terrible! A failure among failures! He was counting on me and I failed him and oh God, he made me stay in this world as punishment and because he doesn't trust me and I'm a horrible person and," At this point BlackGuilmon just broke down sobbing. "He trusted his top rookie with such an important assignment and I failed him!"

Celena was silent for a moment, letting her partner cry out his insecurities. "How many people know about these corrupted elements?"

"I don't know." Haseo answered. "Vulcanusmon was very secretive of his projects so it's entirely possible the thieves picked up something without realizing how powerful or how useless it really was."

"Okay, BlackGuilmon calm down." Celena said calmly, gently petting his head. The lizard sniffled and rubbed his eyes, but nodded slowly to her. "Let's think about this logically. How did the corrupted element get to Haruki and Minomon?"

"It's possible that he found it." Dorumon answered.

"Or someone used it on him specifically." Haruki added.

"I can't remember…"

"We know of at least one other person besides the Boss who wants these things and knows what they do." Celena said, seemingly more to herself than the others. "They sent Gomamon to retrieve the corrupted element and succeeded. Please don't cry anymore."

"Sniff, okay."

"However, I don't think they're the one behind attacking Haruki.' Celena continued. "It seems too dumb for them. They implanted Gomamon specifically to get the corrupted elemental, so why would they go to all that trouble and then just throw the darn thing away? It doesn't make any sense for them to use a limited resource in such a wasteful way."

"Unless they have a lot more than just one." Haruki pointed out solemnly.

"Maybe, but even then. If there's only ten then why bother wasting it on you guys?" Celena wondered. "Why not use it on one of your own men to maximize your chance of retrieving it should they fail. This whole thing feels rather sloppy and unplanned. Maybe it was an accident. Maybe Minomon used it on accident after finding it or stealing it or whatever. What if…what if Haseo and Dorumon were the targets?"

"Wh-what?" Haseo gasped. "Why us?"

Celena looked to the boy and grabbed his hands. His pale face turned cherry red, but Celena ignored him. "Haseo, please tell us the truth. Why are you here? How do you know about these corrupted elements? Is this about the mission the Boss has you on?"

"Yeah." Haseo admitted. "He wanted Aniki and I to keep an eye on the human world in case something bad happens. He's got other people stationed in other places, but he said he was confident that something would happen here. So he sent Aniki and I as damage control."

"And you've worked for the Boss before right? He trusts you?"

"Yeah a good couple of times."

"Then maybe this attack was a hit on your lives."

"A hit on us?" Haseo asked.

"Heh, I feel a little flattered." Dorumon grunted.

"Well, it's only a possibility." Celena corrected. "Truthfully, we're at a standstill. We can theorize all we want but there's not much point. We don't have enough information, or even the corrupted element!"

Haruki motioned to Minomon. "He ate his left over shells after hatching."

"I was hungry." Minomon cooed.

BlackGuilmon let out an irritated growl. "The hell do we do then? Just wait and see what happens?"

"For now, yes." Celena answered quietly. "As much as it might hurt, our best course of action is to just sit back and wait for the enemy to make the next move. Maybe we'll be able to discern some motive or plan from that. Until then, we're out of luck."

BlackGuilmon slumped forward on the coffee table, letting out a prolonged sigh. "Well that's depressing."

"It's not all bad." Haruki said with a smile. "I mean at least we're all okay right? Come on, no more frowns you guys! Let's eat cake and smile like regular teens should. Y'know, but with 50 percent more monsters."

BlackGuilmon smiled. "The cake does smell awesome. Oddly familiar."

"Otouto's cooking is topnotch." Dorumon said with a proud smile. "Cut it up Otouto, its snack time!"

"Sure." Haseo agreed with a small smile. He sliced the cake into either even pieces and gave everybody one. "There, two left over for your parents since they let us use their house as a meeting place."

"Right." Celena said with a confident nod. "From this point onward, this will be our official base."

"Sounds good to me." Haruki cheered.

"Yay." Minomon cooed.

"Cake." BlackGuilmon sighed as he ate the delicious pastry.

Dorumon and Haseo exchanged a glance. "Don't bother Otouto. We both know no amount of arguing will get them to stop."

"Yeah…" Haseo said, smiling despite himself. "This is kind of nice though. Watching out for anything unusual will be a lot easier with more people. Just be sure to call us if you find anything."

"Got it!"

"Yes sir!"

"Cake." BlackGuilmon licked at his plate, his eyes wide. "Oh Haseo that was delicious! Please promise to make cake every time we meet up! Please! You don't have school anyway, so please?"

"Oh that reminds me." Celena said thoughtfully, pushing her cherry around the plate. "Where did Minomon go while you were at school today?"

"He hid in my backyard and ate some leaves. I'll have to take him to the park or something though; it looks like a swarm of locusts blew through."

"That should stop after he evolves again." Haseo said with a nod. "Baby digimon eat a lot, regardless of species. You're just lucky you're not stuck with a Dorimon."

"Hm?" BlackGuilmon chuckled. "Dorumon's Baby form eh? What's that like?"

"A tiny little furball." Haseo answered with a shrug. "But he loves eating metal. I remember one time a Knightmon attacked Aniki when he was a Dorimon and he ate the Knightmon's sword and shield! Baby digimon aren't quite as harmless as they look."

"Yeah, I think I'll be taking that warning to heart." Haruki chuckled. "Like a little garbage disposal."

"What were you like as a Baby?" Celena asked, looking at her own partner.

"I don't know." BlackGuilmon answered slowly. "I can't really remember. Doesn't matter much though. Not like humans can remember either right? I'm happy either way. No use in bothering with the past right? It's already happened, so no use crying over spilled milk."

Haseo smiled a little. "An old friend of mine used to say that your past doesn't make you who you are, it's how you look at it that makes you who you are."

"Yeah exactly." BlackGuilmon grunted. "If something bad happens, don't fall apart. Use that as a reason to get stronger! Sounds like your friend is pretty smart Haseo."

"Yeah." Haseo chuckled. "Yeah he really was."

"Well I think it's time to go." Haruki said as he stood up, stretching. He picked Minomon up, who snuggled into his arms happily. "Thanks for the cake Haseo, and thanks for letting us use your House Celena. You guys both have my number, so call me when the next meeting is. Make sure it's soon okay? I don't have school as an excuse to see Haseo like I do you Celena."

"Sure." Celena said. "If nothing else we can all go see a movie or something this weekend."

"I'll be leaving too." Haseo said as he stood up. "Again, thank you for inviting us over. I appreciate it Celena."

"Any time." She answered with a smile. "Oh, and I'm not exactly happy with some of the stuff you guys might have done in the past but, how should I put this? I think talking about the corrupted elements sort of put in perspective for me. It's about survival right? Directly or indirectly. So while I might not like it, I can at least accept it."

"Thank you!" Haseo cried. "That means so much! I really didn't want you to be upset with me!" He gasped as Celena pulled him into a hug, but made no effort to resist.

"Good, still friends then." Celena said with a nod. She walked the four boys to her door and opened it for them. "Bye guys, see you later."

"Bye!" Haruki said as he stepped out.

Haseo returned Dorumon to the Xros Loader and bowed to Celena. "Thank you very much for having us."

"Thank you for the cake." Celena answered. Haseo smiled and walked out, Celena closing the door behind him. She smiled to herself and walked back towards the living room. They hadn't really answered much, but at least everyone was up to speed now for the most part. "I do wonder though." Celena mused. "If Vulcanusmon was so tightlipped about his projects then how does Haseo know so much? He had said something about two sons…" Celena stepped back into the living room, her eyes widening in horror. "BlackGuilmon!' she roared as she saw him devouring the last two pieces of cake face first. "Really! Again!"

BlackGuilmon licked his nose sheepishly and looked away. "Heh. Sorry."

**Next Chapter:**

"Please tell me you're joking."

"Is this who you've been spending all your time with!"

"My life is none of your business!"

"You're both disasters waiting to happen."

**Chapter 5: I wanna be your GUY**


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